Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too welcome the Social Democrats' Bill. According to the UN rapporteur for the right to housing, housing has been financialised and valued as a commodity rather than a place for human dwelling. It has become, for investors, a means to secure and accumulate wealth rather than a place to live in dignity, to raise a family and thrive within a community. Deprivation of the rights to adequate housing are not just programme failures or policy challenges but human rights violations of the highest order, depriving those affected of the most basic human right to dignity, security and life itself.

The housing crisis did not fall out of the sky. It was the inevitable result of the policies of successive Governments. Government policy on housing and homelessness in Ireland, when it is not actively attracting vulture capitalists and equity funds into the housing market by having fire-sales of distressed loans or giving tax breaks to the real estate investment trusts, REITs, tends to be reactive, focusing on short-term fixes such as emergency or temporary accommodation rather than prioritising sustainable long-term solutions for people in need. The measures announced yesterday fall into the very same bracket. They will do nothing to alleviate the crisis.

Despite the talk of recovery, and whatever the phrase "Republic of opportunity" means, figures compiled by Focus Ireland show that one third of Irish people worry about and-or struggle to pay their rent or mortgage every month. One in nine people is worried he or she will lose his or her home, while 6% of the population are worried about becoming homeless. Despite the Government's spin, the number of homeless persons has risen by 20% since November 2016. Rents in Dublin are now up almost 65% from their lowest point in 2010, and are 14% higher than their previous peak at the start of 2008. By contrast, the consumer price index, CPI, did not change in 2016. It fell by 0.3% in 2015, rose by 0.2% in 2014 and 0.5% in 2013. More than 80% of available rental units are too expensive for people on State housing benefits, and so the majority of rent supplement recipients are also paying top-ups to landlords. According to the Housing Agency, house prices in Ireland are moderately unaffordable. That is great; people can moderately not afford to buy houses.

The Bill before us presents a number of common sense measures to make the housing market a little fairer and to provide more protection to tenants. The call for a publically accessible rent register is particularly welcome, as under the Residential Tenancies Act as it currently stands, there is no enforcement of the 4% rule in cases of a change of tenancy. Despite the rent caps, daft.ie figures show that rents nationwide rose by 11.8% in the first six months of 2017.

I have an issue with the 4% rate. Looking at CPI figures for 2016, 4% per annum represents eight times the increase in annual earnings for full-time employees. It is way too high. Rent caps should be linked to inflation. Setting the limit at 4% is just making it inevitable that all rents in the rent protection zone, RPZ, will rise by 4% a year; an annual rise which will gradually drive people out of their homes. Landlords are able to evict tenants if they state that they are moving a family member in or if the tenant is unable to pay an increased rent. This has been abused in recent years as a way to evict tenants and sell the property, and is one of the main causes of the rise in homelessness.

The Bill also proposes an extension of the current notice periods for termination of tenancy by landlords, along with increased fines for landlords who flout the laws. These are both very rational and welcome proposals.

With an average of 700 families living in commercial hotels and other forms of unsuitable temporary and emergency accommodation each month in Dublin, some suspect that emergency accommodation is becoming a long-term housing response. This draws an obvious parallel with the direct provision system which, as I said earlier, are nothing short of refugee camps. Some 18 years on, the Government is still pumping millions of euros every year into this temporary measure which means that some people are being forced to live there for up to ten years, and from which a number of private companies are profiting considerably.

The Government has introduced so many measures in recent years to "address" the housing crisis, but the policies are obviously not fit for purpose. What we need is more political interest in pursuing policies that prioritise the provision of affordable and secure housing to actually meet the housing needs people have. There is no rationale to the Minister's long-term approach to dealing with the housing crisis. The truth is that the Government does not really have a long-term plan. Every plan is a sticking plaster. The price of property is actually being driven up, and it is going to continue to go up because of the policies in place. The Government is doing nothing about bringing down the price of housing. Housing is not being made affordable. One of the measure brought in yesterday, where people can get mortgages through their local authorities at a cheap rate, would be great if the houses were priced at an affordable rate. The people who are not able to get a mortgage will end up as the lucky ones, because the price of houses in Ireland is too high. If one travels 25 km from the centre of any city in Europe one could buy a house for €150,000. In Ireland one would not be able to buy a place for double that.

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