Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In terms of housing supply, Louth County Council has had success in the use of compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, for recovering vacant and derelict properties. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Most of the properties acquired by the council are in the hands of the banks and vulture funds. Nationally, about 1,000 properties are being sold to banks and the Housing Agency for distribution to councils and approved housing bodies. I am satisfied that many thousands of these units are not being made available by the banks. Banks are waiting for values to go up. The Government should target these units. They are already built and could be made available within a short time.

The Government must allow local authorities to build on their land banks by providing the approvals for same and covering the land purchase costs which the councils are carrying. Most of these sites are good ones that could be developed very quickly and by refunding the councils the land cost, the Government could stabilise the councils' financial status. Is the Minister aware that Louth County Council is boarding up a vacant property because it cannot afford to carry out the necessary work before it relets the property?

That is serious.

I will now address the issue of homelessness. The Government needs to declare more rent pressure zones. These zones are working in the areas where they have been designated. A new rent pressure zone must be declared as soon as possible in Dundalk. Rents are increasing at a faster rate than house prices in the area. A large number of properties owned by landlords are being repossessed. The banks appear to have targeted these properties and many tenancies are being ceased because banks are insisting on vacant possession. In this time of crisis, we must introduce legislation that removes the vacant possession requirement and allows the recovery and disposal of the property with the tenant unaffected, as happens in commercial property transactions.

More work also needs to be done in providing assistance to those households which struggle to maintain a tenancy, whether through addiction, mental health issues, disability, behavioural issues or child support issues. The relevant sections of the Health Service Executive and Tusla must assist councils with these cases with a view to ensuring that tenancies are sustained and not lost.

This morning, the Taoiseach asked for solutions.

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