Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct. The figures for those who are homeless and those who are living in temporary accommodation are not acceptable. No one denies the figures and that is the reason it has become the Government’s number one priority to tackle the issue. It is also the priority of this House to tackle the issue and to reduce the number of homeless people. The action plan has been devised to deal with the problem and I have no doubt it will address the issue. There is no doubt housing and homelessness is the most pressing social and economic issue facing our country. That is the reason there has been a total concentration across Government, including many Departments and agencies, to solve the crisis.

There has been an ongoing shortage of social housing supply and the issue has been compounded by a dysfunctional housing system. Deputy Wallace mentioned procurement but there are many related issues both in the private housing sector and in the delivery of social housing. The system has failed in recent years and we are trying to rebuild it and improve capacity both in the delivery of social housing through local authorities and direct build, as Deputy Wallace suggested, but also by getting the private sector delivering housing again.

Homelessness is the tangible and visible symptom of the broken market, and its impact on individuals and families can be profound. Figures published yesterday are based on housing authority reports for a week in September 2016 and identified the following numbers of individuals and families in receipt of State-funded emergency accommodation: 4,283 adult individuals, 1,173 families, of which 1,014 are in the Dublin region, and 2,426 dependants associated with those families. The total number of homeless adults and dependants is 6,709. I said in a previous debate that approximately 140 people are rough sleepers on the streets. More than 1,000 families are in temporary accommodation arrangements which are not satisfactory. That is what we are trying to deal with and we are trying to put in place permanent solutions for them as opposed to temporary arrangements whereby they are in bed and breakfast accommodation and hotels.

Deputy Wallace said he is familiar with Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness. The plan, which was launched in July, is not just about the delivery of housing. It also sets out to address the social failing that is homelessness by raising awareness, putting in place homelessness prevention measures, providing better services to those who are homeless, and ultimately, matching the additional supply that will be created to current accommodation needs and ensuring there is a route out of emergency accommodation for every single household.

Rebuilding Ireland provides for early and longer-term solutions to address the very high levels of homelessness, especially the unacceptable number of families in emergency accommodation in hotels. In that respect, Rebuilding Ireland commits that by mid-2017, hotels will only be used as emergency accommodation in limited circumstances. The plan provides for specific additional supports and services for families in hotels while they remain in hotel emergency accommodation. To move people and families on from emergency accommodation into more permanent housing solutions, under Rebuilding Ireland, 1,500 rapid-build units will be delivered by 2018. By the end of this year more than 300 units will be on site or nearly completed, with a target of 800 for next year. There will be a major ramp up of rapid-build houses in 2017, which as Deputy Wallace said are direct-build housing, and they are coming on stream.

We are also chasing up vacant units as they provide a quick solution to the problem. A total of 1,600 vacant units will be acquired by the Housing Agency which will be funded with €70 million in capital Exchequer funding to find and acquire suitable portfolios of vacant properties for social housing, including homeless families, directly from financial institutions and investors. More than 500 properties have already been referred to the agency for potential acquisition and thus far the agency has made 181 bids on them, of which 70 have been accepted.

Changes are also being made to the planning process and to the Part VIII provisions on the delivery of social housing to speed up the process. The number of homeless housing assistance payment, HAP, tenancies will be expanded from 550 in 2016 to 1,200 in 2017. The 2016 target has been met and we are setting a very high target for next year to deliver permanent accommodation solutions to people in temporary accommodation.

Deputy Wallace asked if the money is really there. The money is there. On budget day, €1.3 billion was announced and confirmed as the spend for next year on housing, which is double what it was for 2016. A total of €5.5 billion of taxpayers' money has been allocated to tackle the issue over the next three to four years by this Dáil following a commitment by Government. The money is there. That is not the issue. It is a case of getting the system up and running again with the capacity to deliver. Deputy Wallace is correct that this is the number one priority and we must deliver on it. The resources are in place. It just takes a little time to get the supply back up to where it should be.

See this speech in context