Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

-----6,000 people on the homeless list, more than 2,000 children in homeless accommodation and countless thousands of people facing the threat of eviction is the policies pursued by Governments.

While it is welcome that Deputy Jan O'Sullivan has introduced a Bill that confronts the rights of property owners, it was not long ago that Deputy Alan Kelly, as the Minister with responsibility for housing in the previous Government, repeatedly assured the House that rent controls could not be introduced because of concerns about their constitutionality. I have just heard Deputy Jan O'Sullivan illustrate very well the reasons Threshold and other reputable organisations will counter this contention. While the Labour Party's conversion on the road to Damascus is welcome, it is a pity we had to wait until rent increases in Dublin since 2009 had reached 60%, thousands of people faced economic eviction because they cannot afford rent hikes and REITs and other vulture corporate landlords received tax-free windfalls from the misery of thousands of tenants. It is ironic that the Labour Party Bill is finally seeking to implement the Kenny report which, as Deputy Jan O'Sullivan stated, was issued 40 years ago when the State was immersed in corruption and appalling planning scandals. In how many Administrations has the Labour Party been directly involved since the Kenny report was issued? It could have addressed this issue before we reached the worst housing crisis in the history of the State.

The core reason for the crisis is not whether thousands of people cannot pay their rents but the blind faith all Government have shown in the market, both the rental and house-building sectors. Governments view housing as a market issue as opposed to a human rights issue. The core problem is the refusal to fund and build the level of public and social housing required by local authorities. I will highlight the low point of building social and voluntary housing because it contributed directly to the current housing crisis. In 2011, 2012 and 2013, when the Deputy who proposed the Bill was a housing Minister, the number of local authority homes built was 486, 363 and 293, respectively. Even when it was clear that a crisis of tsunami proportions was about to hit the State, the scale of social house-building was limited. During Deputy Alan Kelly's period in office, the number of local authority housing completions stood at 158 in 2014 and a glorious sum total of 75 in 2015. After five years in office, the Labour Party, which proposed this worthy Bill, had not influenced Government policy to the degree it could have done before the worst housing crisis hit. If it could not influence policy on housing, why did it remain entrenched in government?

Some of the measures proposed are welcome. It is appropriate to counter the nonsensical argument about the inviolable rights of private property. Let us hope the Labour Party's conversion to this view is not temporary but marks a full commitment on its part to tackle the root causes of the crisis. Those on the left, Labour Party Deputies and other Members across the House will eventually have to admit that the market is not working and will not provide the most basic rights to citizens. For this reason, full direct State intervention is required to stop the crisis and address the profiteering, feeding frenzy of speculation and tax breaks of the vested interests to which the Minister referred.

We need rent controls that go beyond what is proposed in this or previous Bills and can provide relief to tenants who are paying 40% to 50% of their income on rental accommodation. We need to bring rents back to 2011 rates and allow them to reflect the stagnation of wages and earnings in the economy. We need measures that increase the security of tenure for tenants and deal with issues beyond the sale of a dwelling, including the multiplicity of grounds used by landlords to end tenancies.

The Minister referred to it being important that we do not introduce overly interventionist policies in the rental market. There has not been one such intervention in the rental market, which is the reason there has been a 60% increase in rents across Dublin. The Minister also said he was concerned that such measures might kill off supply. There is no supply. What is being killed off is the human right of people to homes while the greed and profits of vulture funds, real estate investment funds, REITs and the landlord market in this country are fed. The people paying for this are those left languishing on the housing lists and in homeless accommodation. At the same time, the Government's Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016, to which we will speak further next week, provides for the introduction of fast-track measures which are already causing major problems not only in my community but in many other communities in terms of the withdrawal from communities of halls used as old folks clubs and youth clubs, and the grabbing of lands and parks. This is happening throughout communities in this city. The fast-track approach which the Minister advocates is not to go after landowners, landlords and developers but rather to go after the communities and the facilities they hold.

We are for the building of tens of thousands of local authority houses and not 4,300 this year alone, although in terms of provision that is better than it has been for years. Dramatic and emergency measures need to be taken. What we need from the Minister is emergency housing legislation that goes beyond the market and recognises housing as a human right rather than something from which developers and builders, who caused the crash, should benefit from in terms of investments. When such a Bill comes before the House we will welcome it and put our backs to the wheel to ensure it is implemented. I regret no such Bill is forthcoming.

I welcome the measures provided for in this Bill proposed by Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, albeit they are too little too late.

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