Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have visited emergency accommodation and have spoked to families and children living there. As an individual and as a father, as well as a politician that has responsibility in this area, it upsets me that we have not managed to make a bigger impact in terms of the number of children and families that find themselves homeless tonight. That is why the determination of the Government to change that situation is stronger than it has ever been.

In the past year, the budget for housing has increased by almost 50%. In the previous year, it increased by 50% as well. Money is not the barrier to the provision of the resources required to deliver a social housing programme. We have committed €6 billion to deliver an extra 50,000 social houses. The issue here is the capacity to be able to deliver the volumes required at a pace that will get people out of hubs and hotels and into homes as quickly as possible. I can promise the Deputy that, in terms of policy initiatives, there is no lack of will on the part of this Government. In fact, the opposite is true. Yesterday, the figures announced showed a significant increase in the amount of homeless families. The number of homeless individuals is down, but that is not what people want to talk about. People want to focus on solving the core problem of homeless families. We have asked the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive to prepare a detailed report about what is happening over a number of months, what trends are emerging and why. If that leads to recommendations to change policy we will introduce new initiatives.

The core policy focus around Rebuilding Ireland is to deliver a dramatic increase in social housing provision, as well as ensuring that we have stable rental markets in the future so that we do not have the kind of property-driven economic implosion we experienced over the last ten to 15 years. The social consequences of the policy mistakes of that period, which we are now trying fix, cannot be allowed to happen again in the future.

In the past year, 2,000 families have been taken out of hotel accommodation and put into long-term tenancies and other, better solutions. We need much more than that, and that will be provided this year. As we progress we will see a dramatic increase in the number of social houses that are provided. Last year there were 2,245 new builds. That is almost double the amount realised in the previous year. We will probably see that figure more or less double again this year, with around 4,000 social houses being built, as well as a whole series of other solutions around voids, acquisitions, leasing and an expansion of the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the homeless HAP. The accusations around inactivity and commitment simply do not stand up.

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