Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is now seven weeks since the general election and the people have faced the charade of the election a Taoiseach for the third time. My understanding is that a vote to elect a Taoiseach is a vote to elect a Head of Government. On the three occasions on which people were nominated, none was capable of forming a Government. While this charade goes on in this House, the crises people are facing, particularly the housing crisis, continue to deepen. One of the first steps I want to see taken by the housing committee is calling the housing crisis an emergency. The previous Government never accepted it was an emergency, although it was raised here many times by people such as myself and Deputy Catherine Murphy. Deputy Durkan referred to homelessness two to two and a half years ago.

The crisis worsens daily. We now know that in February, 3,930 adults and 1,881 children were homeless. I had the privilege of standing with Erica Fleming and her daughter Emily on Easter Sunday when all the pomp and ceremony were evident on O’Connell Street. Erica called for a protest and action in solidarity with the homeless families on North Earl Street. I stood proudly with the people that day and deliberately did not attend the ceremonies. It was more important to recognise what was happening to Erica, her daughter and thousands of others who are facing hostels. One hundred years since the 1916 Rising, we have not recognised children and their status.

More than 130,000 people are on waiting lists for social housing that does not exist. Another 100,000 plus are in mortgage arrears and in danger of losing their homes. The solution put forward by the Government, the mortgage-to-rent scheme for people facing a mortgage threat, has been an absolute disaster because the banks will not deal with people who are facing losing their homes. Thousands of people are living in private rented accommodation, waiting in dread for a rent increase they cannot afford. We are still noting such cases in our office. Every single day, some housing-related issue arises. It may concern a local authority, maintenance, rent increases, the threat of eviction because a landlord is selling, not being able to obtain rental accommodation and accommodation that is too expensive. I encounter families who are facing homelessness every single day. This is now the biggest issue in my constituency office.

There are solutions but actions are required. Respond! Housing Association has made proposals. The credit unions should be invited to meetings of the housing committee to give their opinions on the issues that committee's members will speak about. The solutions could involve support for the €5 billion social housing fund proposed by the Irish League of Credit Unions, a national register of all land assets in the country, a full Cabinet Minister responsible for housing and planning and a housing authority or agency responsible to the Minister responsible for housing. The authority would incorporate some land and asset management of NAMA as that agency winds down. Other aspects of a solution include restoring Part V so that all new developments must have at least 20% social housing in the mix; providing for the public acquisition of private lands by compulsory purchase by the State; the development by the State of the 800 sites identified by the Irish Council for Social Housing; the expansion of the vacant site levy of 10% to keep ahead of increases in the price of land; a three-year use-it-or-lose-it clause in planning permissions; and a national social housing stock retrofit plan involving the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. It is important that any social houses built include this. There should be a move from the local property tax to a site evaluation tax to discourage the hoarding of land by developers. This is what Respond! is seeking, although I do not necessarily support it.

There should be legislation to address failings in local Traveller accommodation plans and a referendum to enshrine the right to housing in the Constitution as part of a guarantee of economic, social and cultural rights. The financial contributions list of the councils must also be considered. Some 500 people have been put on the list of Dublin City Council. That council will not take any more because it has no stock into which to put people. It has no old folks homes and yet there are possibilities in St. Michael’s Estate and Raleigh Square in my area and Canon Troy Court in Ballyfermot. All those areas are waiting for housing for the elderly to be built. What is happening is absolutely crazy. There needs to be digging down at macro and micro levels to determine how we can move people from one set of houses to another where they want to do that.

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