Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Homelessness is a national scandal scarring our streets.

Having a secure roof over one's head is the cornerstone of a decent life. It is the basic starting point for every family, but has been denied to many. Unfortunately, children are bearing the brunt of this failure, which has been caused by Government policy. If we are to solve this problem, we must change the Government's mindset on housing, which insists that the market will deliver the solution to the problem and that deep down, homeless people are responsible for their own misfortune. It has allowed vulture funds into our economy unregulated, and that mindset in every other part of Government policy has meant the strong get stronger and the weak in our society despair of any kind of fair deal from the State. The result is that 10,000 people are homeless, almost 4,000 of whom are children. This cannot be allowed continue. We must embrace a housing first approach and ramp up the direct build of social housing. A legislative right to housing should be put in place to clarify people's entitlements and prioritise tackling delays. The Government must stop blaming local authorities and slash the red tape to get to grips with the problem.

The number of homeless people in Ireland has grown from 2,858 in December 2014 to 10,000 today, which is a 360% increase. These are unprecedented levels of homelessness. Despite this, the Taoiseach told us some months ago that the figures were not the worst compared with other countries, which was a scandalous attempt to normalise something that should be unacceptable in our country. This again points to the prevailing mindset of this Fine Gael-led Government. Under Fine Gael, the balance of spending shifted from capital investment in new units to rental subsidies for the private market. Fianna Fáil has tried to reverse that with pressure under the confidence and supply agreement. We need a housing first approach if we are to address this crisis. That means getting homeless people into appropriate accommodation with adequate wrap-around services for their needs, as Deputy Rabbitte outlined in her contribution.

Fianna Fáil supports a legislative right to housing and is progressing a Bill on this issue that is designed to ensure people's legal entitlements are clear and prioritised by local authorities. This Bill is based on best practices in Scotland. Rather than announce a policy shift to speed up social housing provision, the Minister threatens to strip local authorities of some of their powers when they have too many homeless families in hotels and bed and breakfasts. The root of the problem is that the Government is failing to develop social housing. The Land Development Agency, LDA, has been discussed since Rebuilding Ireland was launched in July 2016. However, the Bill to place that body on a statutory footing is still going through pre-legislative scrutiny. There are serious questions over whether the LDA will be on or off the balance sheet, which has a direct impact on its ability to invest in land. The housing departments of local authorities have been mired in delays over the lack of departmental guidance on the required cost-effectiveness analysis. The Department sets up hurdles but does not inform local authorities on how to deal with them. The Department continues to control spending, yet blames local authorities for not building. In budget 2019, it was agreed to raise the discretionary threshold for local authorities' spend on housing from €2 million to €6 million. Reducing the four-step approval process for developments to a single stage would reduce the current 59-week pre-construction stage by two months, but this change has been resisted by the Government.

We have managed to have a significant impact on Government policy since the February 2016 election. We set a target of 45,000 social housing units. We have achieved first-time buyer support, the revamp of the rent-to-buy scheme and the strengthening of tenants' rights. We have managed to treble the social housing investment from €430 million to €1.5 billion, and establish an affordable housing scheme. This demonstrates that there are answers to this complex problem. However, without the will and a change in the mindset about which I have spoken, it is hard to be hopeful about a solution to the homelessness problem this side of a general election.

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