Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday Simon Communities Ireland published a report showing that only 20% of the very limited supply of houses available in the rental market could be afforded by those on rent supplement. This cohort of people has absolutely no other way of securing a home given the huge housing waiting list. Therefore, the reality is that the housing and homelessness crisis is worsening. These families find themselves completely priced out the market. So many families on low, middle and even good incomes are increasingly finding themselves priced out of the housing market. Based on what I am currently seeing, this is primarily in the rental sector.

According to the Locked Out of the Market survey conducted by Simon Communities Ireland, there were 518 houses available to rent across ten locations around Ireland, including Dublin, Cork and Limerick cities and commuter towns in their hinterlands. My area, in north Kildare, was one of the areas included. Of the 518 houses, only eight were within the rent supplement scheme or housing assistance payment scheme limits. Many others were unsuitable for family accommodation. In essence, there are virtually no affordable properties available.

I am seeing heightened panic among those who are contacting my constituency office. In the past couple of weeks, I talked to a couple who are due a baby within weeks and learned they are frantic to get somewhere to live. They are living separately at present. Both are working and their joint income is reasonable. They and others are telling me that when they go to a viewing, they find themselves in a bidding war. One couple told me in recent weeks that when they left a property that was advertised for €1,300 per month, the bidding war brought the value up to €1,800 per month. That is the cause of the desperation. In another case, the landlord told a couple with one child, both working, that the rent was to be put up by €300 per month to €1,500 per month. They cannot afford it. It is not sustainable but they cannot do anything and cannot rock the boat.

This is the kind of profile we are seeing.

We in the Social Democrats launched our alternative budget today and we focused heavily on initiatives designed to bring significant numbers of units back into use. There are 200,000 vacant properties in the country. Initiatives such as the vacant housing initiative that was announced need to be accelerated, and this is one of the proposals in our document. Will the Tánaiste examine it? The problem is accelerating. We need to examine where houses are available that can be brought into use, for example, by way of the fair deal scheme. Will the Tánaiste ensure a fresh look is taken at the short-term aspect of the problem, given that it is out of control?

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