John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I thank Deputy Broughan, a former teacher of mine, for tabling this motion. It is disappointing that nearly three years after the election of the 32nd Dáil, an issue that dominated the very beginning of that Dáil, housing and homelessness, is as severe and prominent today as it was three years ago. While Fianna Fáil will be supporting the principles of the motion before us today, I acknowledge that there is no one simple solution to this. The motion specifically calls for an emergency to be declared and emergency actions to be taken. They must be taken in tandem with long-term structural changes that are needed in terms of the provision of significant additional housing. The motion acknowledges the fact that we still have people who are homeless. According to the latest homeless figures we were quoting, almost 10,000 people are homeless, of whom more than 3,500 are children. As public representatives, we all know the challenging lives those families are living, particularly if they have children, because we meet them in our constituency offices. Whether it involves trying to access cooking facilities in hotels or being driven to different areas to try to get to schools, their lives are hell at the moment. This figure has consistently stayed in or around the same number for a long time. It is in that context that we need to look at some of the emergency measures.

I would allude also to the fact that the figure for rough sleepers in recent times is quite high. I think the latest figure we got was 156. I do not know where the count is but I am certainly seeing people sleeping rough in parts of Dublin where I never saw them before - on the canals and out on the M50, N4 and N7 in tents. That is something I have never seen before and I do not know if those people are even included in that count. I would have serious concerns about that.

The first action in Rebuilding Ireland was the rapid build programme, which is why emergency actions must be taken in parallel with structural changes. The Minister committed to delivering 1,500 rapid build units by the end of 2018. My understanding is that only a couple of hundred of those have been built. Can the Minister imagine what would have happened if the 1,500 had been delivered in a timely fashion, as was anticipated and as was supported by Members on all sides of this House? Think of the positive impact that would have had on the people who are now homeless because rapid build was, as was specifically stated in Rebuilding Ireland, aimed at addressing the immediate need of homelessness. It has been allowed to slide and has not been addressed significantly.

I am disappointed when I drive around Dublin and see the number of vacant houses. The repair and leasing scheme is not returning the type of figures hoped for. I do not know the answer to it but I think that in times of emergency, we should know why properties around this city and its suburbs still remain vacant instead of being brought back into use.

The Minister spoke about the number of new build social houses for 2018 and how about 18,000 new houses were built, of which 4,000 were social houses. However, I have one particular concern. One of the Deputies asked how many of those houses were local authority houses. Only 2,022 houses were built by local authorities last year. The reason I am concerned about it is that, traditionally, local authorities were the leaders in the provision of social housing yet in 2018, the total number of social houses built by local authorities was 2,022. A total of 1,388 were provided by approved housing bodies while 840 were provided by Part V. There needs to be a much clearer focus on the delivery of social houses through the local authority scheme. From my conversations with people in the housing departments in local authorities, I believe they are still concerned about the process and the time it takes. There is a piece of work to be done there.

The Minister spoke about HAP. He talked about giving people choice and how they can work and pick where they want to live. At the moment, there is an over-reliance on HAP. HAP is certainly a very suitable payment for a short-term situation but for somebody who wants to settle down in a particular town or community, who has young children and who would envisage staying in that community and their children going to the local primary school and progressing to the local secondary school, HAP does not afford them these opportunities. The figures are in the programme but the problem with HAP, a problem the Minister needs to get to the bottom of, is that there is very significant churn in private rental accommodation. Not many people stay five or ten years. The people who are coming to our constituency offices who are homeless have all come through private rented accommodation. I am not opposed to HAP but what I am concerned about is the over-reliance on HAP. It is a short-term solution that does not provide the long-term accommodation it should.

I recognise and appreciate that a Bill will come before the House relating to private rented accommodation. Regarding a rent register, I spoke to Deputy Ó Broin about a particular case where property was vacated, re-advertised and re-let and the rent went up significantly. It is very important that legislation on a rent register is introduced. Many people in private rented accommodation are in a vulnerable situation. There is such a scarcity of property that they are afraid to complain. Property inspections need to be ramped up. I know the Minister will say there has been an increase year on year. The target is one in four properties being inspected by 2021. That programme should be accelerated.

In the amendment to the motion, I see that the Minister noted "the level of progress being made is reflected in social housing waiting lists, which have reduced by 22 per cent, from 91,600 households to 71,858, between 2016 and 2018."

That may be statistically correct but the problem is I meet a significant number of people who do not qualify for social housing and have no prospect of buying a house of their own, so they are caught in limbo. It is about time the income thresholds for social housing, particularly in Dublin where the cost of accommodation is so expensive, were reviewed. This is important. As I said, I meet a significant number of people who do not qualify for social housing but who do not have a hope in hell of qualifying for a mortgage to buy anything in the greater Dublin area.

The issue of affordable housing needs to be addressed. All of the Dublin Deputies, although I cannot speak for those in the rest of the country, will know of many cases where two people in a household are working but have no chance of buying a house in Dublin in a community where they may have lived all of their lives. We need to look to introducing schemes in this regard. While the Minister may argue funding is available for infrastructure, which will reduce the cost of housing, it is not significant enough. There are significant developments under construction and to be constructed in the South Dublin County Council area but none of them offers meaningful affordable housing schemes, which means a cohort of people will be left behind. Apart from the cost of the house being reduced, we need some type of savings scheme and recognition that the fact people are paying rent impacts on their ability to save a deposit. All of those issues need to be considered. There is certainly a group of people in this country who are working but who do not qualify for social housing. If we do not change and give them an opportunity to buy their own home, they will never have that opportunity. In addition, in the absence of a cost rental model, their rent will go up significantly over their lifetime.

There is much comment on the right to housing from the point of view of whether a constitutional or legislative change should be made, and the Minister said this is being considered. Three years ago, the Committee on Housing and Homelessness made a recommendation that an Oireachtas committee should address this issue as a matter of priority. It is not just some abstract or meaningless right that would be nice to have in the Constitution; it would be a counterbalance to existing property rights. I recall that at one of the sessions of the committee we discussed the purpose of the vacant sites levy. We were informed that, due to the advice of the Attorney General, the levy could only be introduced at a date in the future and at a certain rate. The reason given was that there was protection of property rights in the Constitution but there was no counterbalance in terms of a right to housing. That is a tangible example of why a right to housing in the Constitution would be beneficial.

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