Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Every single one of us here should be ashamed of the horrendous human misery, not only for the homeless but also for the number of people on housing waiting lists and of our failure to deal with the issue. So much for our republic of opportunity. It is opportunity for some and misery for others.

Five years ago, we had a referendum on children's rights. In many areas, all that means is the right of children to queue for services that do not exist. It certainly is the case for the 3,826 children who are homeless. The commitment by the Government that no family would be in a hotel or bed and breakfast by 1 July last year has been a failure. By the Government's own standards it has been failure. How ironic that statements are now coming from hotels that they will have to move out homeless families when the Pope comes over. No room at the inn in our so-called republic.

According to the ISPCC, one in three homeless people are children. There has been a 287% rise in child homelessness in the past three years, which is the worst record in Europe. To find a solution it is necessary to examine how this situation came about. It is not difficult to trace the origins of the housing and homeless crisis. For the past 30 years, there has been a concerted policy shift from council housing directly built by local authorities to a policy of rent supports in the private sector. This was accelerated by the previous Fine Gael-Labour Party Government from 2011 on. The effect is dramatic if one looks at the figures. In 1975, local authorities built 8,794 council social housing units. That equated to one third of the total build. In 2005, 5,559 local authority units were built, just 6% of the total build. In 2015, 75 local authority units were built. In 1961, 18.4% of housing was council stock but in 2011 it was 8.7%, which is a 50% reduction. This is because of housing policy.

This policy shift was exacerbated by the austerity cuts to local authorities, with cuts of up to 25% to staff and funding. For example, if the 2009 level of local authority building had been maintained we would have 31,000 extra units now, which could have made a significant impact on the crisis. Another example of the effect of this policy shift is shown by the growth in housing waiting lists. In 1996, 28,000 were on our national list, the figure in 2016 was 91,600, and it is now well over 100,000. A total of 20% of those on the list have been on it for seven years and 50% have been on it for more than five years. We also have the hidden homeless who have been mentioned.

Rent support was introduced in the 1970s as a temporary income support. It was not introduced as a housing policy and it is really important to make this clear. That changed with the introduction of the rental accommodation scheme in 2009 and the HAP in 2011. This is a policy of subsidising the private rental sector to the tune of €500 million a year in an attempt to create a new landlord class. The attempt to create a broad-based Irish landlord class has failed, as shown in the number of buy-to-lets in mortgage arrears, the high number of buy-to-let repossessions and the fact their repossessions and evictions of tenants is a key factor in driving up homelessness.

Policy was adjusted to encourage foreign investors in the sector. In 2013, real estate investment trusts, REITs, rental profits were made exempt from corporation tax and from that point on there were significant increases in the number of investor house and apartment purchases. The figure was up to almost 40% in the first quarter of 2017. For the policy shift to work, investment in the private rental sector must be attractive, which means highly profitable. This equates to huge house prices, high rents, limited security of tenure and no effective rent caps. It also means there will be a continuing housing and homelessness crisis. Over 3,000 homeless children are collateral damage for the Government.

It is also an expensive policy for the State. If the target relating to HAP in Rebuilding Ireland is reached - it is 87,000 new units - the cost will be €23.8 billion higher than building a similar number of council units. This is the madness of capitalism and the failure of Rebuilding Ireland. If Fianna Fáil is so concerned about the emergency, it has the opportunity, by means of the confidence and supply agreement, to make a real difference to homelessness in the context of budget 2019.

See this speech in context