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

I note that on 24 November 2014, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Christy Burke, was very angry that the Minister cancelled a meeting with councillors about the homelessness crisis in the capital. It was only a couple of days afterwards that the tragic situation outside the House happened.

I welcome the Minister bringing those groups together along with the Lord Mayor and Members of this House so quickly. Some of the proposals made are quite positive. Given the acute situation, next week we should have a similar debate to discuss the week-to-week progress on the emergency accommodation and establishing the night café. When we come back we should have another 20 minute or half-hour debate with the Minister reporting regularly to the House on the matter. That is the sort of attention that is needed. We need to see the figure of 158 rough sleepers reducing - we know it is more because many people hide their night sleeping on the streets.

I saw a report that Focus Ireland and the Peter McVerry Trust had set up emergency accommodation providing initially 30 beds and then another ten beds to get rough sleepers off the streets over the winter. I was amazed to read at the very end of that report that these beds would be closed down in March when the weather gets better. I presume those people will be going into longer-term accommodation in housing rather than finding themselves back on the streets again when the weather gets better, which is what we have seen repeatedly over recent years when there is a knee-jerk reaction with no longer-term provision.

Some Deputies spoke about the longer-term problems. We have 90,000 on housing lists - it is probably more now. We have another 100,000 people in mortgage distress. We know that many of them will be evicted. The Minister did not accept the Private Members' Bill forcing the banks to adhere to the code of conduct - they are only guidelines at the moment and the banks are not adhering to them. The Government had an opportunity to force the banks to implement this and give people the alternative of staying in their homes rather than going on local authority housing lists and finding themselves homeless.

I raised this during the week and I want to emphasise it today. The need for rent control is becoming more urgent. I got an e-mail from a resident in a big apartment block in my area stating that on 27 November every person in the complex received notice that they were facing a rent increase from €1,300 to €1,600, a 23% increase. There are many people in the complex on rent supplement and many people who are privately renting. Only weeks ago these apartments were transferred from NAMA to IRES REIT, backed by a foreign investor. These people are being regarded as cash cows now as opposed to people who need a home to live in. These investors are coming in and increasing rents dramatically. We propose that these people go to the PRTB as a collective force to fight their case, as this is way above the market rent at the moment. We need to get more feedback on what is happening with rent increases in communities and complexes.

I would like us to get an update next week on the number of beds put in place for rough sleepers, particularly those who find themselves in emergency accommodation, including families in hotels. We need to keep an ongoing check on it. Through those debates and discussions we might all be able to come up with better ideas to deal with these issues in the longer term. I do not believe we have sufficient resources for social housing to be built, but that is another day's debate.

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