Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Solutions to the housing crisis are needed now more than ever. The plight of over 10,000 homeless people underlines the pressing need to address the housing crisis. However, it can only be done with consistent policy, resources and honesty, not through silver bullets or magic beans. This Government has shown repeatedly that it simply is not facing the seriousness of housing in Ireland. The constant spinning and playing politics are not what our people expect from a responsible and serious Government.

Fianna Fáil supports, in principle, the removal of sale as a reason for ending a tenancy. Mike Allen of Focus Ireland argues that eviction for the reason of sale is now the primary source of homelessness. He estimates that one third of households that are becoming newly homeless are as a result of eviction for this reason. Fianna Fáil submitted an amendment to the Government’s so-called Tyrrelstown amendment in order to reduce the number of units in a single development from 20 to five.

This, we argue, would offer more secure occupancy to a larger number of tenants without having a detrimental impact on the market by preventing involuntary landlords from selling their properties. This is key. We have to balance the interventions that are needed to secure vulnerable tenancies with encouraging landlords not only to remain in the rental sector but to enter it, particularly in key pressure point areas. The model of ownership of the rental sector needs to change but that transition needs to be such that we do not throw out tenants while we change the system. That would be irresponsible, wrong and also unnecessary. However, the Government rejected our amendment and again raised the number of units to ten in a single development, removing an estimated 5,000 potential properties from coverage of the provision. It did this on the basis of legal advice, arguing that this could be more robustly defended against constitutional challenge.

There is also a strong policy argument as to why we need to be careful in how we design new tenant security provisions. We should not introduce provisions that will unintentionally act as a barrier to persons with distressed buy-to-let mortgages being able to dispose of their properties. As we all know, over 90% of Irish landlords, covering an estimated 85% of rental properties, own only one or two properties and many of these are involuntary landlords. They are not the enemy. They are part of the solution. We cannot simplify this to out-of-date ideological battles between the extreme left and the hard right. There is a general consensus that a move towards more institutional large-scale investors in the Irish market is desirable from the perspective of advancing a more professional rental sector. To abolish sale as a reason for ending a tenancy, as this Bill attempts to do, could stall the turnover of rental properties from smaller landlords, many of whom are involuntary landlords who are not making a profit and are often in negative equity. Like it or not, removing sale of property as a ground for terminating a tenancy would not be constitutional. This is a serious flaw, one that cannot be ignored or swept under the carpet. Left un-amended this Bill would in fact accelerate the exodus of landlords by prompting fire sales by those who could afford to leave the market during a period of legal uncertainty in the courts, thereby further worsening the situation. A far better approach, one that is consistent with the constitutional protection of property rights and the balance of protecting the common good, would be to remove sale as a reason for ending a tenancy in most circumstances, but not in all circumstances. Such an approach could be robustly defended against constitutional challenge. This can be done in a number of ways. One such way would be to insert a provision that would enable landlords to remove tenants in order to sell their property if they can prove that it significantly affects the market sale price of the property by comparison with vacant possession. Such a provision would be much more effective in offering greater security to a larger number of tenants without leading to the infringement of constitutional rights and widespread uncertainty in the rental sector, which the current Sinn Féin proposals would do. The common good clause of the property rights constitutional provisions would, in my view, enable the Government of the day, given the harm to the common good that the housing crisis presents, to ensure that our people, all of our people, have access to the basic human right of shelter, a home.

As Deputy Ó Broin knows, the housing committee has agreed in a proactive and responsible manner to work with the Government's residential tenancies Bill, to strengthen its weaknesses and to reach a general agreed position. This is the way forward and we in Fianna Fáil will work with all members of the housing committee to provide workable solutions. Outside of the committee, Fianna Fáil, through the confidence and supply arrangements, has kept this Government under pressure on housing and we have delivered some significant improvements. We secured increased social housing funding in the last budget. The overall capital budget for housing increased from €1.065 million in 2018 to €1.34 billion in 2019, a €271 million or 25% increase. This includes social housing and homeless capital funding. We have forced the housing capital budget to increase from €430 million in budget 2016 to €1.34 billion today. This is a €900 million, or 300%, increase. Fianna Fáil has secured a new affordable housing scheme.

Only €20 million was allocated to an affordable housing scheme in 2018 with no units delivered or regulations signed off on. Fianna Fáil has established a revamped scheme worth over €100 million per annum over the next three years. This will deliver approximately 7,500 units at an average price of €200,000 for ordinary income workers. We have forced measures to keep landlords in the market with tax incentives to stabilise rents. Landlords selling up is removing units from the market and is driving up rents. Over 4,000 landlords left the sector in the past 12 months. We established a 100% mortgage interest relief measure to help keep landlords in the market and retain supply in the short term while more homes are built. Further measures to incentivise long-term leases are in development.

We have addressed the serious delays and red tape in the Department and local authorities. Delays in procurement and the four-step approval process for social housing is crippling delivery. We tripled the discretion of local authorities to build homes without going through administrative hoops. Local authorities can now build up to 30 homes through the fast-track process. More work is needed in this area. With regard to the crucial area of social housing and homelessness, social housing funding has been ramped up by €270 million. Homelessness numbers at 10,000 are still unacceptably high. These figures are disputed by many with claims it could be a high as 12,000. In reality, 10,000 is far too high for a developed country like Ireland. Thousands of children’s lives are being ruined by homelessness.

Fianna Fáil supports landlords and renters. We need both for a rental market to function. Budget 2019 was not a landlords' budget. A rental market needs landlords if it is to work. It incentivises landlords to stay in the system. Some 40,000 landlords left the system between 2012 and 2018, including 4,000 in the past 12 months. We need to retain current landlords otherwise there will be fewer units available to rent and rents will rise. The mortgage interest relief is targeted at small landlords with two or less units to keep them in the system.

Fianna Fáil approves, in principle, of the idea of limiting the right of sale as grounds to terminate a tenancy. However, it must be constitutional. There are serious questions as to whether this Bill meets that requirement. In addition, it may have the unintended consequence of accelerating the exodus of landlords from the rental market while the legal case is fought in the courts. Fianna Fáil previously secured the restriction of evictions on the ground of sales to ten units in the 2016 Act. This should be reduced to five, which would protect the vast bulk of landlords in the state while ensuring security of tenure for tenants in institutional landlord owned units. Ultimately, the key to addressing the homelessness crisis is increasing supply. This must involve attracting and retaining landlords in the system and not penalising them. Reducing Government red tape and increasing capital expenditure on the provision of social housing is also essential.

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