Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a very important debate in which I will make a few salient points. As Members of the House all of us, regardless of our political parties, have been approached by people who are in severe difficulties in terms of housing accommodation. One of the key issues we must address is where there are properties for rent, and where there are properties for rent in some parts of our country, and certainly in County Louth, we should relax the rent cap on the families that would like to move into those properties. Specifically, we should target families currently in bed and breakfast accommodation. We could be paying €800 or €1,000 per week for families in bed and breakfast accommodation but why do we not increase the cap for families in such accommodation to allow them go into a rented house, which would cost between €1,000 and €1,200 per month? That is a rent per month versus a bed and breakfast cost per week. That is a simple sum we can all do, and we should do it right now.

The second action we must do is look again at the room to rent scheme. Currently, a person living alone who has a room to rent can rent it to relations but not to a family member. The rent is paid for that. The person can get that income and if they are on certain basic social welfare benefits it does not affect that income.

We need to think outside the box. If we are spending €452 million per year on rent subsidies and other ways of supporting families, why do we not relax the rules for the room to rent scheme and include, first, where couples are living in such accommodation and second, ensure that where people are on benefits other than basic social welfare benefits, the income they get would not be counted against their tax liability.

We should look again at the question of family members. If there is space in the family home, in theory the family member could move back in. They are currently excluded from that. I do not understand why we should not consider that as an option and see what happens.

Another basic point is that there are shops and other businesses in the centre of our towns and cities which have all the services including sewage, water and lighting, yet nobody is living over those shops. Those of us who have an interest in history and read the 1911 census will know that in our town centres hundreds of people were living in those accommodation areas at that time. There is nobody living in them now. We should consider introducing a new exceptional scheme for town centres and designate those areas to allow for the people who own those properties to be either grant-aided or write off the cost of bringing up that accommodation to a liveable condition. Alternatively, the income they would get from such properties could be tax free for a period of time. Living over a shop would not suit everybody and it certainly does not suit families with young children but it would suit a significant number of people.

A category not often mentioned is the single male who generally comes to my clinic who is separated and has been living in appalling accommodation, perhaps shared accommodation in some cases, with other people who are single in terms of their living conditions. Many of them are in their 40s and 50s; some of them are in their 60s. Some of them have other problems also. Other Members mentioned drug and alcohol problems, which is a significant issue in our community.

There is also the question of those with mental health issues. I have people who suffer from significant mental health issues come to my clinic who cannot get accommodation. They are living difficult and stressful lives. If we look at those areas we would be able to facilitate that category of person in terms of providing accommodation.

We must think outside the box. This debate is an example of us all working together to get the best ideas from all sides of the House to ensure that the families and individuals we want to help most can be helped. We should break all the rules because it does not make sense to be spending a fortune on accommodation in bed and breakfast facilities and hotels when for less than the money we pay for that family in a month they would have a house with two or three bedrooms.

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