Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I raised the issue of housing with the Taoiseach on Leader's Questions earlier today. I drew attention to the comments made by the United Nations special rapporteur on housing who is visiting Ireland this week. Those comments amount to us being told again that Ireland is failing abysmally in dealing with what is now a housing emergency and it is an escalating emergency. Ms Farha said that one of her primary reasons for becoming interested in Ireland was because of NAMA and the unprecedented nature of how it is operating despite the country being in the midst of a housing crisis.

Almost 10,000 people are homeless according to the official homelessness figures. We know many more are not being counted. I refer to people we all come across who have been couch surfing for years.

Mr. Mel Reynolds, an architect who is very involved in the housing issue, told us recently that NAMA controls enough development land to build approximately 65,000 housing units. Local authorities own zoned residential land with a total capacity of 48,724 housing units across the country. Dublin City Council alone has land sufficient for 18,000 units, while the three outer Dublin councils have enough for 29,000 units, yet in the last four years we have seen a total of 818 social housing builds completed nationally. In 2017 local authorities built 394 units, yet in the same year the State transferred over €1 billion in housing supports to private landlords. The balance of priorities is completely skewed. Mr. Reynolds made that point in real terms when he explained that one year's supply of purpose built social housing is meeting less that two weeks of subsidised housing demand.

The sums just do not make sense. At this stage one in three tenancies are in receipt of some form of State rent assistance. It is a cycle of failure and waste, perpetuated by the refusal to acknowledge the fact that relying on the private market to solve this crisis will never work. The State must take responsibility for providing affordable housing that is accessible to all. Ms Farha warned against the mindset that views housing as a commodity rather than the bedrock of a stable and healthy society. Without a secure roof over a person's head it is very difficult for him or her to be a functioning member of society. So many people are in that precarious state.

A dysfunctional society is not in anyone's interest, whether one considers oneself left-wing, right-wing or anything in between. Singapore, for example, despite its right-wing Government, has some of the highest levels of social housing globally, to the point that it is so much a part of the fabric of its society it sits seamlessly within the housing sector.

The Social Democrats have previously tabled a motion seeking to change the NAMA Act in order to shift the priority of the agency. There are currently seven different issues identified in the NAMA Act, including the restructuring of financial institutions, which are given precedence ahead of the need to address the compelling need to contribute to the social fabric and the development of the State. I urge the Minister of State to consider whether or not he truly believes the balance of priorities within the NAMA Act are fit for purpose given the current crisis. We clearly have sufficient land, so that should not be an impediment. Whatever announcements have been made, the delivery of social housing units has been abysmal. Without that, this crisis is going to continue. We will keep trying to solve it in an expensive way.

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