Dáil debates

Tuesday, 22 March 2016

Housing and Homelessness: Statements

 

4:55 pm

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak during this important debate on housing and homelessness. I will begin by dealing with the reality of the situation on the ground, particularly in relation to families. People are looking for solutions. It is up to all of us to propose solutions in this debate. I have heard some good and sensible ideas so far in this debate. It would be sensible and practical to sit down and propose five concrete proposals to deal with the issues of housing and homelessness. Before we do this, we need to identify the situation on the ground on this issue. At the moment, there are 5,715 adults and children in emergency accommodation nationally, including 4,248 in Dublin. Some 38% of these people have never used homeless accommodation before. The number of families and children in these circumstances has doubled over the last year. There has been a 55% increase in homelessness in Dublin in the last year. Between 50 and 60 people are sleeping rough in Dublin on a nightly basis. Every three people who leave homelessness in Dublin on a daily basis are replaced by six people entering homelessness. There has been a fivefold increase in families becoming homeless in other counties like Kildare, Wicklow and Meath. The supply of private rental housing options in the region is at its lowest point in ten years. That is the situation on the ground.

I would like to set out what needs to be done immediately to respond to these issues. First, the Minister and the acting Government should consider bringing the rent supplement housing assistance payment into line with market rents. Second, we should restrict the flow into homelessness by investing more funding in prevention measures. We also need fast access to housing supports for people trapped in emergency accommodation. This is something we have seen. There are children in very bad conditions and families in hotels. Many children who are trying to go into their primary schools in the morning are coming out of hotel situations. We need to ensure there is a ministerial direction regarding social housing allocations of up to 50%. We need to increase to 20% the social housing allocation under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000. We need to prioritise programmes that will deliver housing stock quickly through the approved housing bodies of local authorities and thereby reduce housing waiting lists. These are some of the many proposals that have been made by the organisations working in this area. I think they should be broadly adopted by the Members of the Oireachtas on an all-party basis. When we are talking about complex issues like homelessness, we also need to consider the issues of drugs, alcohol, mental health and the general health services. I suggest we should focus on harm reduction and medically supervised injecting centres. Finally, I would like to see the full implementation of the mental health strategy, A Vision for Change.

As I have said, homelessness is a very complex issue. As a former soup runner and volunteer with the Simon Community, I saw this many years ago at first hand. I remember the complex nature of the people who were homeless and the horrific situations in which many of them found themselves. When I was doing the soup run, I would often meet a gentle and kind homeless person who would refuse to go into a night shelter because of the threat of violence or intimidation. We need to focus on people who would rather stay in their own skip at night than go into a situation where there might be a threat of violence. We need to focus on this in the context of the points I have made about drugs, alcohol and mental health services. The plan to deal with the issues of housing and homelessness must be accompanied by a drugs plan, an alcohol plan and a mental health services plan. I think that is very important in this broader debate.

I would like to speak about the reality of what is happening in this country now. If we are to deal with the issues of housing and homelessness, every single Deputy in this House needs to be vigilant. Despite all the talk of the last six months, we still have high levels of unemployment in our society. People talk about unemployment going down to 9%, but 18%, 19% or 20% of people are unemployed in some streets in certain parts of my constituency. The high level of household, business and national debt is also an issue. We need to be vigilant and careful because we have a high level of sensitivity to external and internal shocks to our economy. It astounded me the other day to see some senior bankers getting further massive increases in their wages. We have to be vigilant in this regard in light of the weak profitability of the banking sector. Of course the other issue is that housing demand is outstripping supply at the moment. This is one of many challenges faced by our society. Too many challenges are faced by businesses that are trying to access credit.

These are the types of small businesses that could take on one or two additional people. This is something on which we should focus in terms of the development of a national strategy to address high unemployment levels. There are approximately 200,000 small businesses in this State. If each one of them took on one additional person it would put a huge dent in the long-term unemployment problem.

As we have seen in recent days, vulture funds have purchased huge tranches of Irish debt at knock-down prices and are now swooping in to mop up these resources. This is linked to the housing and homelessness issue. Like many of my colleagues and others from among the different political parties, I believe the current housing situation should be declared a national emergency. I would also like to see the appointment of a Minister with responsibility for housing and homelessness. An Oireachtas committee on Dáil reform is to meet tomorrow. I would welcome a meeting of an Oireachtas sub-committee on housing and homelessness before any meeting on the Dáil reform issue. There should be cross-party support for a referendum on the right to a home before the end of 2017. I am not suggesting that all of my proposals be taken on board but I am sure four or five of the sensible solutions proposed from across the Chamber would have the support of many Members. It is important this is done.

We also learned in recent days that 200 people in the Cruise Park area of Tyrelstown are facing eviction following acquisition by Beltany Property Finance of a €89 million loan from the Ulster Bank to certain developers. We are likely to see more of this into the future. What can we do about it? A practical response would be for the Dáil to amend the table in section 34 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 to prevent this. No constitutional bar would prevent the passage of a widely supported emergency amendment to that legislation while we await the formation of a new Government. This is another sensible solution.

During the last Dáil I raised the issue of the €5 billion available from the credit unions for social housing. The credit union movement has surplus funds of up to €8 billion. There are 437 credit unions across this country. Many of us have met with them. They are ready to step up to the plate to assist families with housing problems. Another issue omitted from this debate is housing for disabled people. There are many people in our society who are disabled. We need to focus on their housing needs. There are many other ideas that need to be considered in the context of addressing the housing problem. Owing to a lack of supply, house prices in Dublin in particular are rapidly increasing, leading to an increase in homelessness.

We need an urgent change in the attitude of Government to social housing and a proper funding model. Capital for housing can be raised through off-balance sheet borrowing from non-government sources such as social investment bonds, banks, standard bonds, NAMA and Government sources such as the Housing Finance Agency and the European Investment Bank, with equity finance, real estate investment trusts also being part of the funding option model. Utilisation of these sources would not add to the national debt and they are sustainable through recession. We can increase our building capacity by getting all of the local authorities involved again; the establishment of new housing associations; and by increasing the building capacity of existing housing associations by way of amalgamations, co-operatives and partnerships.

Earlier, I referred to housing for the disabled. It is important disabled people are included in all of our plans, be that in regard to social housing or affordable housing. We also need to ensure that new housing projects for people with disabilities is located in mixed residential communities and dispersed appropriately so as to avoid clustering. It must be clearly demonstrated that there has been meaningful involvement of the resident, his or her family or advocate in the development of a housing proposal and evidence of a community living transition plan and personal centre care plan. It must be also demonstrated that care proposals are configured to support the individuals living in one home in the housing neighbourhood. These are options that could be considered.

As I said earlier, we have heard some good proposals today from colleagues from all sectors of society. A new Dáil has been elected and in the context of the many new Members here there is a great deal of fresh energy in the House. Let us take on board some of their ideas and get on with the job.

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