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

I note that 47,000 social houses are due to be built by 2021 in line with the target set under the Rebuilding Ireland policy. The Minister might believe that this will happen, but I do not. The approved housing bodies and the voluntary housing bodies have quite a central role in that strategy. It is intended that approximately 15,000 houses, or one third of the total, will come from that sector, which is subsidised to a huge degree by the State. The Minister has said that the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board covers rent increases in this sector. However, I have it in writing from the board and from Clúid, which is the voluntary housing body I am complaining about here, that the remit of the board does not cover rent increases in this sector. It covers the setting of rents in this sector, but not rent increases. As the Minister has said, a memorandum of understanding with this sector provides that rents should be reasonable and that lower limits or floors should be set. However, a ceiling is not set.

There will be a problem if one third of the social housing stock comes from the voluntary housing sector, which has always had a great reputation. I have always believed it is a great sector to be housed from. The problem is that all of the tenants are taken from the local authority lists. Like other Deputies, I have constituents whose tenants are paying much higher rents than the local authority because they do not use the local authority method. When I query this, they say that they use a local authority method. It just happens that they do not use the method of the local authority where they are located. A scheme in Chapelizod could be setting rent in accordance with the terms of the local authority in County Kerry, for all I know. Dublin City Council's method for setting the rent is certainly not being used. I have clients whose rent has increased by 38% this month. That is way out of kilter with the national norm. Something needs to be done to address that.

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