Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Despite what the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, think, there is a severe crisis in housing. Despite very low targets, councils are struggling to provide homes. There are almost 7,000 people on the housing waiting list in Kildare, with a wait of ten to 12 years. My office is inundated with inquiries from people who are couch-surfing, travelling between friends and relatives on different nights of the week to get a few hours sleep. There are 52 properties for rent advertised on daft.ie today in Kildare, none of which are within standard limits for a housing assistance payment. There are ten properties in Laois and 11 in Offaly, again none of which are within the HAP limits.

We are in this crisis because successive Governments have treated a roof over someone's head as a commodity to be left to the mercy of the market. Homes should be provided on the basis of need, not greed. It is clear that subsidising landlords through the housing assistance payment is not working and landlords are finding many ways to avoid accepting HAP tenants. We are all aware of this from our offices. Social and affordable housing targets have been missed for the third year in a row. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage failed to spend hundreds of millions of euro allocated to it last year. We in Sinn Féin have solutions.

I and my colleague, Teachta Ó Broin, have met Kildare County Council. It is up for the challenge, but needs quicker funding decisions, less red tape and more certainty. There are too many subsidies for developers. It is time to change the focus to first-time buyers, those in second relationships and people who are struggling to find a roof over their heads. Social and affordable housing targets must be increased to at least 20,000 units a year. Renters need help. Rents are too high. In government Sinn Féin would introduce a three year ban on rent increases and put a full month's rent back into every private renter's pocket. We will treat homelessness, like the emergency it is and accelerate the delivery of social and affordable homes. We must move away from the mistakes of the past. We must again build public homes on public land.

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