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

I presumed the Minister of State would raise the issue of the tenancy protection service. I have the report, which states "553 tenancies were protected, including 462 who were in receipt of an uplift in payment in their rent supplement with the remaining 91 tenancies sustaining their tenancy, as a result of TPS advocacy work." However, more and more families are losing their homes and more and more families are in crisis accommodation. The Simon Community stated last week that as many as 3,500 adults and children could be in emergency accommodation by June. This is still going on and people are still losing their homes. More direct intervention is required. Government could put a cap on the rent landlords can charge and link that to an increase in rent supplement to keep people in their homes even for three years. Housing emergency legislation should be brought in. We brought in financial emergency legislation, so why should we not bring in housing emergency legislation for three years to hold rents as they are and to ease people over the next period of time in which the Government is going to build the 1,500 houses, for which it claims it has the money? These measures must all be interlinked. There must be a review of rent supplement. It cannot keep going the way it is.

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