Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táim ag tabhairt tacaíochta don Bhille seo. Sílim go bhfuil sé thar am gearrchéim tithíochta a ghlaoch. I welcome the Bill and thank Deputy Healy and his colleagues for bringing it forward. It aims to acknowledge and affirm what common sense as well as the national statistics on homelessness, housing and the rental sector tell us, namely, that there has been a serious but undeclared emergency in housing and homelessness in recent years. Sinn Féin and others have brought forward motions seeking to persuade the Government to declare a housing emergency, but to no avail. It is obvious that the solutions put forward by the Government to this emergency are not working.

The crisis reflects the Government's failure through its reliance on the private sector to deliver housing. It is clear that this policy has failed and will continue to fail for as long as the Government pursues its ideology. The pandering of the Government to the private sector and its reliance on the market is something about which we should be very concerned. The Government must be more ambitious and radical and completely change its mindset. We need to build social and affordable housing in sufficient numbers. Doing so would help to control the cost of building private housing. The answer to the current lack of social and affordable housing is for the Government to give the lead to local authorities in building such housing. It is amazing that we still do not have an affordable housing scheme in spite of all that has happened. It is imperative that the Government provide local authorities with the funding to build those houses rather than being so reliant on the private sector.

On the rental sector, a recent report compiled by daft.ieindicates that rents have risen 30% above Celtic tiger rates and reached a record high for the tenth consecutive quarter. The rise in rents has far outstripped the rise in average wages. Exorbitant rents in the absence of matching wage increases put renters in a very precarious position. People are increasingly struggling to pay their rent. Many in the private rental sector or buy-to-let properties fear being made homeless. Increasingly, newly homeless families come from the private rental sector. There is a need to properly regulate the private rental market to protect against homelessness. Current rents are unsustainable and far exceed the 30% of household income considered affordable. Some rents are many multiples of that percentage. The massive State subsidies through the housing assistance payment, HAP, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and rent supplement cost the Exchequer more than €700 million per annum. The Bill states: "During the period of this national housing emergency no resident in a mortgaged dwelling shall be evicted". That proposal should allow time to help steady the market and stop the haemorrhage of people to homelessness.

I am not surprised that, once again, Fianna Fáil has refused to back a proposal to declare a housing emergency. The principles of the Bill should be supported by anyone who realises the seriousness of the crisis we face. The private market has every interest in exploiting the emergency and no interest in solving it. Why would it solve the crisis when it has proved so profitable for it? People need rent certainty which would give stability to their lives and those of their families. With over 1,000 children homeless and the huge implications for their health, well-being and stability, surely it is time for the Minister to acknowledge this crisis. In addition, high rents are a disincentive to taking up employment in many areas of the country, particularly in many locations in Dublin. People have died and are still dying on the streets. Coming up to Christmas, many children and their families do not have a place to call their home. They do not have stability. Rather, they have chaos and instability. What will it take to declare a housing emergency?

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