Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion, which continues the debate we have held over recent months. On 6 May, the Technical Group used Private Members' business to debate the issue of housing and homelessness because we believed the Government was not serious in its approach or in recognising the crisis that people in our constituencies are facing. The coalition Government has belatedly come to accept the seriousness of the crisis in housing. While accepting the crisis in words, its actions, however, fall far short of what is required. Tinkering around the edges of the problem and continuing to rely on private sector landlords and developers to supply people with affordable housing is not a solution.

The new housing assistance payment, which will replace the rental allowance from next year, was generally welcomed. People receiving the new payment will be able to work while continuing to claim the allowance. However, it was pointed out in this debate that it potentially means recipients can be deemed to have had their housing needs addressed. The Minister spoke about transfers but that is only going to cause further problems.

The rental accommodation scheme is a disaster. In Dublin South Central, people cannot find RAS accommodation and others are losing their RAS accommodation as landlords sell their houses or the banks repossess them. They have nowhere to go other than private rented accommodation. They are told they will be first on the list to get RAS accommodation if it becomes available but landlords are not buying into the scheme.

The private rented sector was encouraged by section 23 breaks to increase its share of housing in Dublin from 19% in 2006 to 32% in 2011. Apart from being unable to provide people with decent housing at affordable rents, the reliance on the private sector and market forces brought about a banking collapse which sent the country to the brink of ruin. More than 90,000 households are in need of social housing which does not exist. Approximately 100,000 households are in mortgage arrears and another 100,000 are renting in an uncontrolled private rented sector without security of tenure and threatened by rent increases. In the past day, I have dealt with two young families who were threatened with eviction because the bank has taken over their homes and they are being forced to look outside Dublin for accommodation. This is a serious issue. Young families are being forced to take their children out of schools. I do not care what agency is established to provide the money but we know €3 billion is needed to build a minimum of 20,000 houses in the next one to two years if we are to solve the crisis.

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