Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like other speakers, I welcome the opportunity to discuss this Bill and as part of that discussion to talk about the housing situation. We have raised this issue on a number of occasions in the House by way of Private Members' motions, for example. The discussion of this issue is also happening in communities. We all accept that there is a problem that needs to be fixed. Sinn Féin would describe it as a crisis and I do not know what words the Minister of State would use to describe it. There is a need for urgent action to deal with a significant issue which has been raised by constituents.

This Bill has been three years in the making. Like others, I have waited three years for the Government to take action to deal with this crisis. I question whether the Bill is fit for purpose and suitably radical and whether it will deal with the problems in the system or will merely tinker with them. I note the positive elements in the Bill which are welcome such as the recognition of the need to act on the provision of housing. However, the Bill will do very little in response to the crisis.

Over €1 billion has been cut from the housing budget since 2008 and currently 90,000 people are on the housing waiting lists in all parts of the State while a total of 293 local authority houses have been built. The waiting list is growing and the problem of homelessness is escalating. Homelessness is a problem which affects the cities in particular. There is a general acceptance that there is a dearth of housing in the Dublin area and the problem of homelessness is getting worse rather than better. The cost of rented accommodation in the Dublin area has increased by 40% since this time last year, a pattern which has been established over recent years. It has been noted that many private sector landlords are not prepared to take tenants in receipt of rent supplement. Discrimination on grounds of race, colour and creed is forbidden but I suggest that discrimination against individuals on the basis of their economic need should also be forbidden by law, which would be a progressive step.

I refer to the lack of housing stock and the discrimination practised by some landlords against some of the 78,000 households in receipt of rent supplement. In many cases it is impossible to find a landlord who will accept rent supplement or else tenants are forced to pay illegal top-up payments in order to keep a home, following the introduction of two separate cuts to the rent supplement rate and the new rent thresholds which we have discussed in this House. Many of us believe these thresholds are unrealistic.

Many people who have lost their home through no fault of their own will go on a local authority housing list. There is a nine-year waiting list in many areas, and even longer in some cases. It is difficult for single persons as well as for large families to find suitable accommodation. I have raised the issue of people with large families who have not been permitted to take a three-bedroom house because it would result in overcrowding. In some cases they have not been permitted to avail of the RAS scheme even though their only other option is to go to one bedroom in a hotel.

I wish to highlight some of the cases of homelessness which I have dealt with in recent months. I had a case two weeks ago concerning a young pregnant woman who had fled domestic violence. When her baby was born, she was asked to leave her accommodation and she was put out on the street. She looked for emergency accommodation. Her baby is three weeks old and she is walking the streets and has no secure accommodation. I was informed by South Dublin County Council that the emergency accommodation list that day had accommodation for four people, three males and one female. Applicants were advised to ring a central office at 4 p.m. to know if accommodation was available that night. Dublin City Council is able to provide information at 2 p.m.

I usually get telephone calls on a Friday. I know that a Member of this House accommodated a family of five in a local hotel for one night but that is no solution to the general problem. Part of the problem is that many of the hotels that traditionally provided accommodation for homeless people are not prepared to do so. Hotels are not ideal accommodation for families as facilities for washing clothes are limited and there are added costs.

This is an increasing problem across Dublin city.

Some hostels are better than others. I have spoken to homeless people with addiction problems who were off drugs and alcohol but had no alternative other than to use what are known as wet hostels. This creates difficulties for them as they come under pressure. I spoke to one pensioner, a man in his late 60s or early 70s, who had been assaulted in a hostel by another hostel resident wielding a hammer. I am not sure of the circumstances of this individual, other than that his marriage had broken down and he ended up in hostel accommodation. The person in charge of the hostel was asleep upstairs when he was attacked. Had it not been for two young people staying in the hostel who took the hammer from the attacker, the man would have been killed. He telephoned me asking where he could go the following night and it transpired that the only option available to him was to sleep in another hostel. He was too terrified to do so and the marks on his body and head showed clear evidence that he had been attacked. Unfortunately, I could not offer him another solution.

When people put their names forward for public office they believe they will improve or change people's lives. For years, public representatives found ways around the system and means of helping people here and there. Increasingly, however, and despite the growing number of people who contact us, we are unable to offer any solutions. Some of the problems we encounter are connected to the recession, while others are related to the length of the housing waiting lists. I no longer have answers for people nor do colleagues inside and outside the House to whom I have spoken.

My local authority, South Dublin County Council, took an initiative on homelessness with which I am proud to have been associated. Councillors are seldom congratulated but councillors in south Dublin recognised the problem of homelessness by collectively deciding to donate their conference fees towards the budget for delivering a 16 bed unit for the homeless that was opened in Tallaght last year. While the initiative was launched by the alliance group on the council, namely, Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and a number of Independents, councillors from the Fianna Fáil Party subsequently joined. This is an example of councillors responding to the housing crisis. I thank and congratulate the individuals in question, especially as they do not receive a substantial salary. They took a brave decision and showed leadership on this issue and deserve the congratulations of the House. I urge members of other local authorities to take similar initiatives. This year, councillors in South Dublin County Council are considering donating their conference fees to the budget for housing adaptation grants, which are being cut by central Government. These grants support the increasing number of people who wish to stay at home and live independently and save the State substantial sums of money.

My constituency office is contacted daily by families who have been forced into homelessness or are on the verge of losing their home. Every citizen should have a right to housing and the position in which some families find themselves is unacceptable.

I have addressed positive and negative aspects of the Bill. The legislation takes a positive step forward in terms of improving the wholly inefficient procedure that applies to the summary conviction of tenants. It improves tenants' rights by providing that the local authority must give a tenant ten working days' notice before beginning an eviction process in the District Court. Many individuals and organisations will argue that this period is too short and eviction should be used as a last resort as it is not a solution to anti-social behaviour. That position is a given. Nevertheless, evictions are one of the few means of protecting communities as they provide a lasting solution in many cases of bad behaviour. Previous speakers alluded to drug dealing and intimidation. I am aware of cases where people were threatened with guns, burned out of their homes and had windows smashed. Many of the victims are left to fend for themselves. Sometimes the only option is to remove from the relevant community the individuals who are engaged in these types of behaviour. While I accept that a multi-agency approach is required, especially where the individuals involved are young, if entire families are creating hell for their neighbours or intimidating people on the basis of their race, colour, country of origin or accent or because they wear glasses, they should be evicted. I could list hundreds of cases involving people being intimidated from their homes. The positive and negative aspects of the use of eviction need to be teased out on Committee Stage.

On the issue of succession where a tenant dies, the Bill provides that the occupier must be given ten days' notice of a District Court hearing on a repossession application. If the application is granted, the local authority may then proceed with the repossession. Some local authorities act quicker than others in securing possession. We must establish parameters in this regard. One has cases where a daughter or son moves into a local authority house to look after a parent who has been ill. Such persons do not have succession rights and if the parent dies, they should be given time to grieve. Local authorities must show flexibility and common sense when families experience a tragedy. Some people will argue that a six month stay on repossession is too long and three months would be sufficient in cases where the occupier does not enjoy succession rights or does not have a recognised housing need. People must be given an opportunity to find alternative accommodation because in nine out of ten cases, the person will be unable to secure private rented accommodation, particularly in the Dublin area. The unfortunate consequence of this will be that local authorities will put people out on the side of the road. This issue should be discussed on Committee Stage.

The Bill provides for a new tenant purchase scheme similar to that introduced in 2009. I referred to the ongoing debate on this issue in the Fine Gael Party and Labour Party. Most people are in favour of tenants being allowed to buy their homes. Nevertheless, there is a concern that selling off local authority housing will shrink the stock of social housing if local authority housing construction is not increased. The option of using the proceeds of sales to tenants to upgrade the remaining social housing stock should also be considered. The tenant purchase scheme will not work if it results in the depletion of the social housing stock. An incremental increase in the number of local authority houses is required. While Sinn Féin supports the provision, the State must concurrently implement a significant house building initiative as a matter of priority.

The provision allowing rent arrears to be taken from source is worrying. Many years ago, people in the North engaged in a rent strike.

Flexibility has to be shown by local authorities because there are many good reasons, whether through illness or other pressures, that people cannot pay their local authority housing rent. I am also aware of some cases where local authority tenants have not paid their rents because they are looking for basic repairs and maintenance to be carried out on their homes. It is not so clear cut that the last people to pay their rent are local authority tenants.

I congratulate MABS, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, on the positive work in which it has been involved in helping people who have fallen behind in paying their rent. In many cases, it was because the tenant had not budgeted correctly, which MABS has been able to assist. On this idea of local authorities being allowed to siphon off rent arrears from people’s bank accounts, are we in favour of private landlords doing the same to tenants who fall behind?

Community welfare officers have told me there is no mechanism for them to enter into their record systems information on repeat offending anti-social tenants due to data protection issues. I have also raised this with the Minister of State. I know of a case of one tenant involved in anti-social behaviour in an estate who did not pay rent for one year but when he was eventually put out of the house, he was moved only two doors away. Those community welfare officers are paying their taxes, like everyone else, and are as frustrated by the system. We need to examine this on Committee Stage, as we do not want serial anti-social behaviour offenders as tenants. If we do not tackle them and their bad behaviour, we are only rewarding them by giving them other local authority housing.

While there are welcome elements in the Bill, the housing crisis is getting worse. I do not see the radical approach required to tackle this problem in this legislation. Sinn Féin has identified sources of funding that could be used for the housing market. Will the Minister of State examine our proposals in this regard?

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