Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party welcomes the Bill’s elements concerning the moratorium on rent increases and tenancy terminations. It is common sense and will provide some comfort to people in vulnerable housing and tenancy situations in this scary time. It must be said, however, that we cannot have a scenario where landlords who have been given a break on their mortgage payments by the banks do not pass that on to renters and that renters accrue a debt through the next three months or beyond. This will only widen the wealth gap in our society, leaving hard-working people, who have been driven to the rental sector with little potential of getting out of it, in a more financially precarious situation. In an attempt to save sectors of the market economy, we cannot increase the burden on ordinary working people who, for the large part, have been ahead of politicians in their actions and adherence to the measures brought in over the past several weeks.

This crisis has laid bare something we have known for a long time and which the Labour Party and Senator Humphreys have raised, namely, the number of properties taken away from the market by short-term letting organisations such as Airbnb.

DAFT.ieand The Irish Independentreported this week that there has been an increase of 64% in rental accommodation available to the private market. We cannot waste this opportunity to use these dwellings and ensure that we get people in there who are vulnerable, who may be coming out of homeless services and who need secure tenancies. The State needs to act now to secure those dwellings for long-term tenancies. The model of having so much of our city dwellings on short-term lettings is profit-driven, has had a disproportionate effect on our housing crisis and is a cause of shame to our country over recent years.

The Government must take control of these dwellings by appointing voluntary housing bodies and local authorities to do that. I know much of that work is being done but we need to drastically improve that. The Government must move to safely house the most vulnerable in our society. There are people living in direct provision, asylum seekers, members of the Travelling community, who are as much at risk as the rest of us, if not more so, from Covid-19 and we must not forget them during this very worrying time. Housing and family circumstances are not cut and dried and we cannot simply say to people who are living in uncertain and desperate situations that we must care for the majority first. We must care for everyone now and always. Those in direct provision must be given safe and adequate accommodation, not only through this Covid-19 pandemic but afterwards and for the foreseeable future. We cannot continue to stand over that system. It is inhumane and as a country that is now showing its true heart, and community warmth we cannot stand over it in the future. Those who are in homelessness or are stuck in short-term accommodation cycles must be provided with absolute certainty of shelter and freedom from the possibility of being moved out. This cycle cannot continue. People who live on the streets cannot maintain an adequate social distance. They cannot adequately protect themselves from the virus, or from the harsh conditions that prevent them from living on the streets, day in day out, pandemic or other.

More important, the level of homelessness and people in uncertain housing going into this crisis has been disgraceful. We need to come out of this crisis as strong as we are now and tackle the housing and homelessness crisis. Attention has been paid more to how we deal with it than the physical result of people coming out of homelessness. The radical change I call for is, I believe, supported by most in this House and I believe there is an appetite for it in the Government. This Bill and these elements of the Bill are most welcome. We feel they will make a big difference. The Minister of State has our support and we will table some amendments this evening which we feel will improve the Bill.

See this speech in context