Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend the suite of measures put in place to tackle the housing crisis. These are solutions based on leasing, buying and building homes for people. I commend the Minister also. This is one of the most difficult social issues we have to face. I will not get into the reasons that led us to having a housing shortage and the situation we are in but not so long ago, at the beginning of the term of this Parliament, people were saying we would have to pull down houses in different parts of the country and the idea that we would embark on a massive building of houses was rubbished in many sectors.

The two year pause on increases in rent is not excessive. Any intervention in the rental market would be justified. The Ministers, Deputies Kelly and Noonan, have decided upon this course of action in respect of rent stability because the market is skewed given the lack of supply of new builds. An artificial situation has been created in the short term and we are addressing it. Such extraordinary market situations can and do justify intervention in the rental market.

I would like to see a situation where once again the general idea would be that local authorities would be brought to the heart of the delivery of social housing. Voluntary housing associations and what they deliver are currently very much in vogue but we should look a little closer at the issue. There is a lot of expertise in local authorities, which have to deal with everyone. Voluntary housing associations get to cherry pick their tenants from the council housing list and they are not shy about getting people evicted for anti-social behaviour. These people go back to the local authority looking for housing and the local authority has to pick up the pieces. These voluntary housing associations have bigger budgets for maintenance and staffing resources. My experience of the projects delivered in my county is that these voluntary housing associations seem to be able to leverage money. I would like to see those issues addressed.

A fair analysis would show that, of the money local authorities receive from tenants, as little as 20% to 25% is put back into maintenance. Therein lies the problem of long-term voids. Mayo County Council only puts 22% of the money into maintenance. It is frustrating, to say the least, to see houses lie empty for a long time after they have been vacated when they should be put back into use. These issues are the responsibility of councillors when setting budgets. I know there are demands other than housing on local authorities but if the Government sees housing as a priority and is tackling the issue of homelessness, local authorities should do so equally. This is a critical and overlooked issue. Local authorities are under pressure to deal with the homelessness problem, but are they being provided with sufficient moneys for their housing budgets in order that they can invest in maintenance and put long-term voids back on the market?

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