Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion put forward by Deputy Ó Broin. The housing crisis is not confined to Dublin. There is a housing crisis across the country. In the midlands, including Laois-Offaly, thousands of families are trapped in the rental market often at the mercy of rack-renting landlords. This is causing huge stress. Unfortunately for many of these families, their income is just above the very low threshold above which they cannot get on the council housing waiting list. At the same time, they have no hope of securing a mortgage from a bank. I know one family where the sole earner is a labourer with the county council and the family cannot get on the council housing list.

Sinn Féin's proposals aim to provide a solution for workers and families, the real squeezed middle, who have no access to affordable or cost rental housing. There has been a lack of ambition or urgency from the conservative coalition over the past four years. I find that difficult to understand. In County Laois, rents have increased by 7.3% in the past year to an average of €1,002. There has been a similar increase in Offaly, at 5.7%, with average rents now standing at €935 a month. A family of four cannot get on the housing waiting list in either county if their income is more than €528 a week. A couple cannot get on the housing waiting list if they have an income of more than €504. They will also be unable to get a loan from a bank or building society, which means they will be trapped forever in private rental accommodation without rent control. This is totally unfair and unsustainable.

Sinn Féin is putting forward solutions for these workers and families. We want a minimum of 100,000 public homes to be delivered over five years. We set out a plan for that with social, cost rental and affordable purchase housing. No family should pay more than 30% of its income on housing. Housing should be accessible for couples whose income is below €75,000 and single people on an income below €50,000. We make our proposal in good faith. It offers an alternative housing model led by the State to deal with the housing and rental crises. The market model has failed. The new Government has an opportunity to show whether it is on the side of workers and families or on the side of landlords and developers. For a long time, this House was told we could not have rent controls. Now we have rent controls on a temporary basis. We need them to be applied permanently.

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