Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

-----because this is our last chance before quite a long break to appeal to the Government to step up its game and to respond to a housing and homelessness emergency that is continuing to get worse. I hope the officials and the Minister of State will listen although, realistically, I do not expect them to admit that their policies are failing or to take on board the full package of alternative proposals the Opposition is offering.

I thank Deputy Ó Broin and Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to discuss these matters. RTÉ has sucked the oxygen out of the air. That is an important issue but there are things that are impacting much more significantly on ordinary people out there and these issues will continue to persist long after the RTÉ debacle is history and, more importantly, over the summer.

I will make a few specific requests. I agree with all of the general points that have been made. At the most extreme end of this crisis are people who are in homeless accommodation or who are threatened with being in such accommodation. The Government has to do something to stem the tide because it is getting worse. It also has to do something for the people who are trapped in homeless accommodation and who cannot get out because there are no alternatives available for them.

Let us start with the last point. Today, when I put a question to the Taoiseach, I heard him say that people generally do not stay that long in homeless accommodation and, as Deputy Cian O'Callaghan noted, he implied that, if they are stuck in it for a long time, it is their own fault.

That is not my experience.

I have written to the Minister and to the Taoiseach about a number of cases when solicited. These are cases of working people with children who are in homeless accommodation. One working mother has been in homeless accommodation for four years. Another working mother, who was in with me this week, has been in homeless accommodation for two and a half years. These are people who are going out to work and paying their taxes and they are trapped in homeless accommodation because they have nowhere to go. It is not because they are refusing offers or anything that the Taoiseach seemed to be implying, but because they have nowhere to go. Will the Government do something about people who are stuck in emergency accommodation on a long-term basis? A special effort needs to be made to get them out. It is bad enough that anybody should end up there, but it is absolutely unacceptable that children should be left on a long-term basis. Can we have a little bit of targeted intervention to address those unacceptable cases?

Obviously, we are demanding the reinstatement, even on a temporary basis, of the eviction ban. If we are going to address this crisis, to let hundreds more each month go into to emergency accommodation is just crazy. It is insane to allow it to happen. The Government says the eviction ban did not have that much of an effect when it was in place but things are worse now, with the figures rising and rising. For God's sake, will the Government do something to stop people going into homelessness? It is logical that it would do so.

If the only show in town is the tenantin situscheme, will the Government at least ensure local authorities are consistent in its application? The case in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown has been in the papers this week. The person who is at the centre of that story was in my office this week saying that if there were management fees involved, they would not do a purchase, even though the family is facing homelessness. That is not being done in other council areas. How can the Government allow that inconsistency? If Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is saying that management fees are an impediment to buying houses when people are threatened with homelessness, there will be thousands of people where that excuse will be used to prevent protecting them from homelessness. Think about how many people are paying management fees in multi-unit complexes. There needs to be intervention now with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Today my office was in touch with the council about this and the response we got was that it could not talk to us about it. It is obviously under pressure on the issue but we need the Minister to get on to it and tell it that is not an acceptable excuse.

The cost-rental issue needs to be addressed quickly. I got a rubbishy answer back from the Minister on cost rental. The income limits and the cost of the cost rental are not aligned. Huge numbers of people who are in the income brackets for cost rental are told they are not eligible because the rent being charged for the cost rental it is not something they can pay on their income. In other words, they tick the income box but the rent is too high so they cannot apply. This is crazy. The Government has not done the basic maths on the cost-rental scheme. That has to be addressed.

I have raised the case of another family on multiple occasions. This family has just discovered they have been legally evicted. The judge gave them a few months' stay but they are facing the cliff in a couple of months' time. This is another working family which is over the social housing income threshold. They have now discovered they are over the coast-rental threshold. Basically, the council is telling the family there is nothing it can do for them even though the family does not have the money to pay the rent or because they are older they will not get a mortgage from the banks. They are not eligible for the local authority home loan. The council needs to be told that something must be done for this family. The family must be prevented from going into homelessness. Raise the thresholds or whatever needs to be done. How can the Government just let them be made homeless, when they are clearly trying everything, as so many people are in the same situation? They are trying to explore every option. The family has contacted hundreds of landlords looking for places they can afford. They have no options. The Government has to give them an option to stop them ending up homeless, because at the moment they have none. When will the Members of this Government get this stuff into their heads? The local authorities should be instructed to do everything in their power to prevent people ending up homeless.

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