Dáil debates

Wednesday, 30 September 2015

Social Housing Policy: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]

 

5:25 pm

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

I welcome the debate and generally support the motion put forward by Sinn Féin. The current crisis in social housing provision is as a direct result of the this and the previous Government's policy of effective privatisation of the sector, whereby responsibility for the provision housing for those in need of social housing has been transferred to the private sector to private landlords and subsided by the State. I am dismayed and angry at the Government's response. It is the same response we have seen for the past six or eight months. It is like the child who has his or her finger stuck dyke trying to stop the water coming through. The housing crisis is continuing to get worse. We know the figures involved - 5,000 people Statewide are living in emergency accommodation and an estimated 2,298 people are living in emergency accommodation in Dublin.

Of these, 1,275 are children. There are up to 130,000 people on the housing waiting lists. Families are couch-surfing or sleeping in cars or, in the case of one family, sleeping in the Phoenix Park. Yet in the first quarter of 2015, only 20 social housing units have been built and 187 voluntary housing units provided. That is not dealing with the crisis.

The regulation of the private rental sector should include enhanced security of tenure. The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 only provides for four years for security of tenure. That should be raised to at least a minimum of ten years, possibly even 15 years. That can be dealt with in one Bill either tomorrow or next week.

It is also important to address the right of a landlord to terminate a tenancy on the basis that the property is to be sold. More families affected by this provision are attending our clinics every week. It should be changed to simply give a right to a landlord, or to a bank which has repossessed rental accommodation, to sell the property with the tenant in situ. This would not cost the Government any money and could be dealt with in legislation immediately. The rent cap should be introduced for a minimum of two to three years, if the Government is not willing to go all the way with it. The Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, has rightly called this a humanitarian crisis. It should be described as a national emergency. The Government should request the European Commission to allow it provide the moneys needed to deal with this humanitarian crisis.

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