Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for bringing forward this Bill. A crucial provision of the Bill is the introduction of indefinite tenures, which is a Green Party policy and a commitment we secured in the programme for Government. However, in a recent discussion with Father Peter McVerry, he had a very clear and frank message for us legislators, which is that we have to be far more radical than we are being in order to solve the crisis. He said we have to value housing as a fundamental right like the rights to education and healthcare. I therefore look forward to the progress on the referendum on a right to housing, which is a commitment of the Green Party that my Government colleagues support and we will work together to achieve it. I am, however, concerned about the fact that the referendum is ninth and last in the terms of reference of the commission on housing, which suggests it has the lowest priority. I urge the Minister to raise this with the commission. It should be one of the first, if not the very first, priority of the commission, considering its significance and the time a referendum will take to progress.

On the Bill, there are a number of amendments that could strengthen its provisions, including a very minor but significant one that would ensure the relevant local authority, as well as the RTB, is informed of termination notices to tenants. This amendment would ensure early interventions if there was a risk of homelessness, and is supported by the Simon Community. I strongly urge the Minister of State to consider it. Another amendment we in the Green Party feel ties into homelessness prevention and would strengthen rental protection is the introduction of a 90-day notice period when a landlord ends a tenancy of less than six months. It is also critical that we end sale of a property as a reason to end a lease. Similar to the protection of leases in commercial properties and other jurisdictions, leases must be secured and tenants need to be protected. If this is not addressed in this legislation, I intend to pursue the matter to see if we can introduce something on it going forward.

A quick solution that would stabilise the rental market and reduce rents, as well as reduce the State's expenditure and the reliance on HAP, would be the introduction of a temporary tax suspension on rental income. Landlords are typically paying about 40% on rental income, which the State could instead suspend and thus reduce rents by that same percentage. Not only would this reduce the exorbitant rents that are crippling families without impacting the landlord's income, it would also save the State money on the €700 million rent assistance bill that is being paid into the private market at the moment on HAP.

This Government, according to Green Party policy, has legislated for cost rental accommodation, where the rent is based on the construction cost of a home and is up to 50% lower than average rental prices. We have moved this model from 50 units in existence in this State to 2,000 units a year. That is the starting point in the establishment of this affordable housing model.

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