Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The homeless housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme is available only in Dublin but, unfortunately, the homeless crisis is not a Dublin-only issue. Rents have been skyrocketing and are now completely out of control across every county in the State. I am dealing with numerous families who are facing eviction. More than 30 of them are facing that prospect between now and October.

I am dealing with one situation involving a lady in her 60s who has received a notice to quit. She has been on the Cork City Council, CCC, housing list for 11 years. Even at this stage, if she could find a property that would accept HAP, she cannot afford to pay the balance. This is the real issue facing people in every city and county. I have another case of a lady, a single parent with one child, who went back to college to become a nurse. Her work is part-time. For this lady to get a property, she will either have to give up college or go back home and live with her family in conditions of severe overcrowding. These are the consequences sky-rocketing rents are having on people on HAP outside of Dublin.

April saw the number of people living in emergency accommodation go above 10,000 for the first time in two years. The most extraordinary figure, however, is that 474 children were living in homeless accommodation in April 2021. In April 2022, some 735 children were living in homeless accommodation. This is an increase in the number of children living in emergency accommodation of 261 in one year. Additionally, between March 2022 and April 2022, the figure in this regard went from 702 to 735, which is an increase of 33 children in one month alone.

There are no properties for a one-child family with a €900 HAP limit, the current limit, in Cork. Homeless HAP will not fix the housing crisis, but it might give these families a chance of a short-term solution. To be honest, I do not believe in HAP. It is a bad support and it is not social housing. It was brought in by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and it is the only support available for many people because of their failures in housing. Any progress made during the pandemic is being eroded. What we are seeing now is a dramatic increase in evictions or notices to quit. Peter McVerry this week said this housing crisis is the worst in 40 years. He said people "are despairing and depressed" and have no hope.

Will the Minister and his Government review the emergency HAP provision for those living outside Dublin? I ask this because we have seen dramatic increases in rents. People are unable to pay the resulting difference. Regarding the first lady I spoke about, she is in her 60s and could never have foreseen herself becoming homeless. Yet she is now facing this prospect. Another case I worked on recently was that of a girl in her early 20s who is a graduate of University College Cork, UCC. She is considering following up on her degree by doing her masters in the autumn. She is working full-time, but had to go into homeless emergency accommodation because her landlord was selling the property. Thankfully, Edel House is providing that young girl with assistance and support. I thank the people involved with that organisation for the brilliant work they do. How, though, can a young lady with a degree and a full-time job end up homeless in this State?

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