John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann shall consider the Final Report of the Committee on Housing and Homelessness, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 17th June, 2016.

It is my pleasure to commence the debate on this report. It is somewhat unusual in that many items that come before this House do so either as Opposition or Government-sponsored items. This report is clearly different as it has the support of members from all parties and none who sat on the committee.

In April, this House agreed to establish a special committee, the Committee on Housing and Homelessness, to review the implications of the problems of housing and homelessness and specifically to make recommendations in that regard. The committee held its first meeting on 20 April and worked intensively within a tight timescale to meet the requirement to complete the report and have it laid before the House on 17 June. It is worth noting that the committee met every Tuesday and Thursday, morning and afternoon, and on most days had a double session in the morning and in the afternoon. The committee met more than 40 individuals or groups - 40 witnesses - and received more than 80 written submissions.

It was abundantly clear, even prior to the committee commencing its deliberations, that tackling the shortage of housing and the related problem of homelessness constitutes one of the greatest challenges the country faces. The factors contributing to the problem are diverse and deep-rooted and affect a variety of sectors, including central and local government, the financial sector, the building industry, the private rented sector and the voluntary sector. The issues involved are complex and inter-linked. Importantly, the problems are causing severe hardship and distress to large numbers of households across the country. It is essential, therefore, that all bodies and stakeholders involved assume responsibility and co-operate fully and generously in responding to this immense national challenge. I am pleased that the Minister is in attendance with us this evening as we review the report.

As I stated, the committee met more than 40 witnesses who attended on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We went through the work programme on a sector-by-sector basis. I will reflect on how the report is structured shortly, but it would be remiss of me not to specifically acknowledge one of our visits, which was to Focus Ireland. Much of the time we talk about numbers, planning, housing units and so forth but the visit to Focus Ireland was something very different. We met a group of people who were experiencing different forms of homelessness and their stories made the work we were doing very real. Instead of talking about a housing unit or whatever, we were talking about people's homes and the challenges they were facing in their lives. Those who were present that day, including some Members in the Chamber, could not fail to have been touched by the problems people are facing. I came away from that meeting determined that we would complete a report that would be meaningful and that any recommendations it contained, if implemented, would also be meaningful.

I want to acknowledge the work of the members of the committee, which was established before the Government was formed. We had members from all sides of the House and, to reiterate what I said earlier, we worked collectively as colleagues. In so far as was possible, there was a large degree of consensus and while the meetings were busy, they were well attended. I want to specifically acknowledge the members of the committee: Deputy Colm Brophy, who replaced Deputy Catherine Byrne on her promotion; Deputy Mary Butler; Deputy Ruth Coppinger; Deputy Barry Cowen; Deputy Bernard J. Durkan; Deputy Kathleen Funchion; Deputy Michael Harty; Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, who replaced Deputy Seán Canney; Deputy Eoin Ó Broin; Deputy Fergus O'Dowd; Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan; Deputy Brendan Ryan; and Deputy Mick Wallace. As Chairman of the committee, it was a pleasure and a privilege to have worked with all of them. I genuinely felt it was very much a collective exercise where the members of the committee sat together to try to bring forward recommendations they felt would be effective.

The committee's report has been laid before the House and many people have had an opportunity to read it. Like most reports, there is an executive summary in which approximately 23 of the key recommendations are set out. I have not counted them but there may be 80 or 90 individual recommendations.

My opening remarks are not from a party point of view but purely to outline the work the committee did, the issues it addressed and some of the recommendations it made. As we established a work programme, we looked across this issue under nine specific headings: social housing; the private rented sector; private housing; mortgage difficulties; housing finance; the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA; homelessness; meeting specific housing needs; and legal issues. I will briefly outline the key issues that arose in some of those areas and some of the key recommendations the committee made. I have no doubt that members who sat on the committee will develop some of those in their contributions but, as an overview, I will go through it in that order because that is the way the report was structured.

The first area the committee examined was social housing. The issues identified by the Irish Council for Social Housing was that State social housing in Ireland is low at only 9% of overall stock compared to an EU average of 17%. A lack of building by local authorities combined with over-reliance on provision by the private sector has led to a shortage of supply. Estimates by the housing agencies suggest that up to one third of the population will need State housing supports. The lack of residential building in the private sector means there is little social housing coming through the Part V process. Targets for social housing set out in Social Housing 2020 rely heavily on the provision by the private rented sector of 75,000 of total units to be provided through the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme. However, this sector is seen by some stakeholders as being a poor provider of secure accommodation for low income groups. One of the most striking recommendations the Minister will be familiar with is to increase the social housing stock owned by local authorities and the approved housing bodies by at least 50,000 units, an average of 10,000 per year, through a programme of acquisition, refurbishment and new build.

Another key recommendation on which there was significant discussion was that the Minister should consider the establishment of a national housing procurement agency, with staff from the Housing Agency, the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Department of Finance to assist local authorities and approved housing bodies to deliver their social housing programmes through supports including funding and procurement.

We also recommended that Part 8 of the planning process would be reduced from eight to six weeks and specifically, as recommended by the Housing Agency, the Government should develop an overarching national two-year strategy to reduce vacancies in the general housing stock.

Based on the national strategy, each local authority should perform an audit and produce an empty homes strategy the contemplates the objectives, aims and actions needed to tackle the issue and with a view to acquiring significant numbers of vacant houses for local authority use in order to clear the housing waiting lists.

The second chapter of the report covers the private rented sector. The committee noted that the profile of renters in Ireland is broadly in line with that in other European countries, with the majority of tenants here under 35 years of age and single. Most homeless families are coming from the private rented sector. There were just 3,082 rental properties on the market nationwide at the start of May 2016, the lowest number on record, with just 1,100 properties available to rent in Dublin. There was an increase in the average rent of 9.3% in the year to March in Dublin. Average rent nationwide has risen 34% since the lowest point in 2014.

Some of the key recommendations to deal with issues relating to the private rental sector are: a national strategy specifically for the private rented sector should be developed and published in order to address long-term uncertainty; there should be an increase in affordable supply; the quality of accommodation should be improved; professionalism within the industry should be improved; rent certainty should be introduced by means of linking reviews to an index such as the CPI and this should be reviewed annually; rent supplement and housing assistance payments need to reflect current market values; and consideration should be given to increasing security of tenure and offering tenants protection from eviction.

The third chapter of the report examines the area of private housing. Issues highlighted include the fact that the number of houses built nationally by the private sector had declined by 85% between 2004 and 2014, with a national decline of 90% in the social housing sector. The number of new house completions peaked at 93,000 in 2006 and has declined significantly in subsequent years.

The recommendations include a national policy on land use to identify and plan for the correct quantity, mix, tenure and size of housing to meet need and to examine measures to increase the supply of land. This could include the use of tools such as land mapping, as undertaken by the Housing Agency. The report also recommends that provision be made for the necessary infrastructure to develop land in the four Dublin local authority areas. The figure suggested in respect of that measure is €160 million. Further recommendations are: to identify sites which have planning permission but which are not built upon; to introduce a stronger vacant site levy in budget 2017; and to implement a tax on vacant homes as discussed by the Housing Agency.

The fourth chapter looks at mortgage difficulties. Approximately 62,000, or 8.3%, of private residential mortgages for principal dwellings were in arrears of more than 90 days at the end of December 2015 and 23,344 residential mortgages for buy-to-let properties were in arrears for more than 90 days over the same period. Some 120,739 principal dwelling house mortgages were classified as restructured at the end of 2015, of which 86.4% were deemed to be meeting the terms of their current restructuring arrangement.

I will now turn to some of the recommendations which were considered for implementation regarding mortgage difficulties. Before the summer recess, and as a matter of urgency, the Government should, at a minimum, implement fully and quickly the programme for Government strategy to deal with mortgage arrears. Subject to the advice of the Attorney General, the Government should introduce legislation for a moratorium on home repossessions until its proposals are in place for dealing with distressed mortgages. This would be a temporary moratorium as it would not be meant for a long duration. The Government should also seek to acquire or facilitate the acquisition of distressed buy-to-let properties and maintain the occupant in the property on an affordable rent, differential rent or affordable mortgage. The code of conduct on mortgage arrears should be amended on a statutory basis to include an offer of a split mortgage and a mortgage-to-rent scheme. When dealing with those who are in mortgage difficulties, banks should, from the outset, make the services of the Insolvency Service of Ireland known to the borrower. The Government should also provide the necessary funding for legal aid and advice to be provided to those in danger of losing their homes.

Chapter 5 relates to housing finance. One of the main recommendations is that the Government should urgently seek flexibility from the European Commission on the application of the EU fiscal rules for the financing of social housing. A further recommendation is that the Government should provide the maximum possible direct Exchequer investment in the provision of social housing in the capital programme. The Government should also establish an off-balance-sheet funding mechanism to provide additional investment in social and affordable housing. Considerable debate took place at the committee when the National Asset Residential Property Services, NARPS, model used by NAMA was examined and advice from Department of Finance and the NTMA was sought. The Government should seek to mobilise, as quickly as possible, all available sources of finance, including funding from the Housing Finance Agency, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, the Irish League of Credit Unions and Irish pension funds, to increase the supply of social and affordable housing. There appeared to be a bit of red tape at this stage between the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank regarding the proposals emerging from the Irish League of Credit Unions.

A further recommendation looks at extending the threshold of the single-stage approval process for social housing from €2 million to a higher threshold of €5 million, with local authorities allowed to explore additional funding if required. The committee also recommended a review of this process to examine why local authorities do not appear to be engaging in the stimulus stage process. It was interesting that while everybody spoke highly of this process it is not actually being used. It appears that local authorities are reluctant to take additional risk.

When the committee considered the role of NAMA, it emerged that it has a target to fund 20,000 housing units by 2020. However, the only legal obligation on NAMA is to provide 10% of these units for social housing. While NAMA states that these will be starter homes at market rates, they would be out of the reach of many first-time buyers. NAMA has the ability to borrow money off-balance sheet through its NARPS special purpose vehicle but this can only be used to deal with NAMA debtors. A number of recommendations were made in respect of NAMA but one in particular I wish to draw attention to is that the Part V requirement relating to NAMA housing developments should be increased to 20% in exchange for fast-track planning approval. These would go hand in hand - it would not be 20% across the board, but it would be in return for fast-track approval.

Chapter 7 deals with the issue of homelessness. The number of homeless households has more than doubled in the past 12 months. Most homeless households were previously living in the private rented sector and many families are being accommodated in emergency accommodation such as hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation which is simply not suitable for family living. A range of proposals and recommendations were also made in respect of this matter. The Housing First initiatives throughout the country should be resourced and no homeless shelters should be closed until alternative accommodation is available. There should also be a review of the legislation around bed-sits and pre-1963 accommodation, including the bathroom regulations. At this point in time it would seem that they should not be enforced until alternative accommodation.

I do not have time to complete my summary of chapters 8 and 9 but they referred to meeting specific housing needs, legislation and legal issues. Many of the legal issues are referred to in previous chapters but one relates to the right to housing. The committee received a number of submissions and presentations in that regard. In light of the time available to it, the committee could not adequately conclude its recommendations. However, it did recommend acknowledgment of: the submissions and evidence provided to the committee; the provision in the programme for Government; and the work of the Constitutional Convention with regard to enshrining the right to housing in the Constitution. The committee also recommends that the new Oireachtas committee - which has been set up - should bring its deliberations on the latter to a conclusion as quickly as possible and should bring a recommendation in respect of it to Government

That is the overview of the report. I hope that colleagues who sat on the committee will use this opportunity to explore some of the recommendations in more detail.

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