Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cian O'Callaghan and the Social Democrats for tabling this motion. I apologise for being late. I missed the opening statements by both Deputy O'Callaghan and the Minister, but if the Minister's response to Deputy O'Callaghan and this motion was anything like his response to the Labour Party leader, Deputy Bacik, or to Deputy Doherty earlier, I can only imagine it was another attempt at obfuscation and at denial of the facts of the housing crisis as it exists right now.

We are having a dispute about figures. There is not one inaccuracy or incorrect figure in this motion. Nothing in the motion about how badly our housing system is failing can be disputed. On three key levels and using three key measurements we can look at where the Government and the Minister are failing in housing. Homelessness has increased by 51.5% under the Minister's watch and that is not from day one. Even if we give him a year and take quarter 2 of 2021, the horrible figure of 8,475 people were homeless. Two years later in July 2023, the figure was 12,847. That is an increase of 51.5%. Rents have increased 21.3% since quarter 2 of 2021, again a year after the Minister took office. Two years later - that is three years in office in total - the average monthly rent was €1,792. It is worth repeating that €1,477 was by no means affordable in 2021, never mind the increases.

One key area the Minister has been harping on about in recent months is that he keeps saying house prices are decreasing. House prices are not decreasing. They have increased 17.6% since September 2021 when the average house price was €272,000. It is now €320,000. It was not affordable in September 2021 and it is even less so now that it has risen by 17.6%. We are not getting closer to affordability. We are moving further and further away. I met a young person in Swords recently. He is in his early twenties and living at home. He talked about work. He is well-educated and has great career opportunities. I asked him what he wants in life and he said he just wants to be able to afford his own home. It is as simple as that. Ask any young person at the moment. It is what they want and what they feel is furthest from their reach.

The housing system as it exists at the moment relies on the voluntary and charity sector. In a question to the Minister of State with responsibility for Health earlier, I raised the issue of the section 39 organisations which, along with the section 38 organisations, section 56 organisations and other voluntary bodies, are sustaining a creaking health service. The charity sector is sustaining the housing system. It is the charity and voluntary sectors that are coming in to meet the needs of the homeless. According to Depaul's 2022 annual report, it helped 7,400 people last year. That is just one charity. Some 1,600 of them were children, 763 families came through its services last year, and 14 babies were born into homelessness last year in the services of that one charity alone. Anyone who has engaged with homeless services, anyone working in the in sector and anyone who knows anything about the sector will tell you that if children are born into homelessness, they are at a much greater risk of slipping into homelessness as an adult. That is 14 children in one service born into homelessness last year who will be at much greater risk of falling into homelessness as an adult. Those cycles go from generation to generation. The Housing for All plan is not giving us any confidence that those cycles will be broken.

The targets in Housing for All that are not even being met are too low. We know from the Government's figures, from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures, that with population growth and other pressures that we need 50,000 to 60,000 homes to be built a year. The State is nowhere near meeting that need. If Housing for All is delivered in all its Deputy Darragh O'Brien glory, it will not come close to meeting that.

I welcome in this motion the proposal for a punitive tax on vacancy. Nothing angers, depresses and insults people as much as seeing a home, house, unit or apartment being vacant and unused, especially if it is owned by the State. There is no excuse for high levels of vacancy in State-owned housing units - none whatsoever. We got to a decent rate of turnaround a number of years ago and we are now back up to the worst it has ever been. It is an insult to people who are homeless or facing a risk of homelessness to see a vacant one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three bedroom or four-bedroom unit in their town or village.

The ban on no-fault evictions needs to be reinstated. The Government will say it did not work when it was in force. It absolutely did work. We know through our advice clinics and constituency offices that it was keeping roofs over people's heads and we are now working though an increasing number of cases of people who have hard notices to quit.

The tenant in situscheme is not working. I want this point to come home. Estate agents, especially those who specialise in rentals, are turning away from it and they are the first port of call for landlords selling a home. They do not want to go anywhere near the State to sell the home.

In my experience, these rental agencies are an awful lot. There are people in my constituency who are being evicted. They may not have been born in Ireland and may not have great English. The landlords may be absentee landlords living abroad. There are rental agencies here that are trying to flip houses as quickly as possible on the open market. The tenants themselves may not be aware of this scheme. The council and the State are not even getting a sniff of buying these houses. Nothing is being done. No resources are being put into the council to ensure the owners of these houses are being approached to add them to the housing stock.

Domestic violence has exploded in the last couple of years since the Covid pandemic began, as seen in the number of presentations to citizens' advice centres, Women's Aid, shelters and Deputies' constituency offices. Again, no processes have been put in place in the Department of Social Protection with regard to rent supplement or in the housing assistance payment system to expedite such applications. I am dealing with many domestic violence cases where the application has gone into the same queue as everyone else's. Quite frankly, that is an absolute disgrace.

The Minister says the supply is coming on stream. When it does come on stream, there are two areas for which not enough provision is being made. One is housing for people with disabilities. We keep hearing that houses are being built that are wheelchair accessible. They may be wheelchair accessible but they are not wheelchair liveable. There is a big difference. If a bunch of 20, 40 or 60 bare two or three-bed units are to be handed over - which is fantastic - how many are going to be suitable for people, and particularly young children, who have disabilities and who are going to have lifelong needs? It is very few. It is then up to the councils to retrofit them. That is not good enough. This Government is asleep at the wheel on housing. This motion is absolutely excellent. We fully support it.

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