Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

These are the facts. People are now paying the highest quarterly increase in over a decade.

The Minister spoke today about solving the problem with modular type housing. I am not averse to that solution, but I find it alarming that the Minister is willing to spend approximately €70,000 per unit at a time when he has capped the refurbishment of void properties at €30,000. The regulations and criteria the Minister is placing on councils to come back to the Department at every stage in regard to the refurbishment of void houses is over bureaucratic and is preventing many of them from getting the job done. I am aware of this from having spoken to Longford County Council which has a high number of voids. The Minister cut the budget for the refurbishment of voids this year and he needs to reassess this aspect.

The Minister must agree that the mortgage to rent scheme is not being used to best effect. The number of people who can avail of this scheme is minimal. We are giving financial institutions the power to repossess houses from families and single people and are placing these people back on an already overburdened housing list. One of the reasons people do not qualify for the mortgage to rent scheme is that they are deemed to be over-housed. We are taking away family homes from people who have lived in a house for 20 years or more. They have a difficulty with the mortgage, but if their children have grown and moved out and if they remain in a three-bedroomed house, they are considered to be over-housed and are advised to sell up and apply for a council house. This is not right or fair. If people were in a three-bedroomed local authority house for 20 years and their children had grown up and moved away, we would not take that house back from them. The Minister needs to give a commitment to expand the number of people who qualify for the mortgage to rent scheme. If he does not, this will put further pressure on rents.

My final point relates to where new houses are being built. I acknowledge that some funding has been announced for new housing, albeit in terms of what is drawn down for 2015, but it is not enough. I urge the Minister not to solve one problem through the creation of another. He needs to look at the land banks when seeking planning permission. In my constituency, the local authority is seeking to put additional social housing in an area where there is already high deprivation and anti-social behaviour. This does not make for good planning and social policy. The Minister must not try to solve one problem by creating another.

See this speech in context