Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Broin for tabling the Private Members' Bill again. Much of what we are discussing this evening was discussed last week, though the Sinn Féin motion did not include this proposal to reintroduce a temporary moratorium on evictions over the winter period. We have to make sure anything we do in the private rental sector does not make the situation worse. I have said here many times that the private rental sector, as it stands, is not functioning as it should. We need a functioning private rental sector.

That is why I am not supporting the legislation. We will oppose it, to be clear on that for Deputies. We will oppose it for good reason, which I will outline. We brought in the moratorium last winter to provide an opportunity to bring additional stock in while in the throes of a constrained accommodation crisis, particularly in the area of emergency accommodation. My number one priority is those who do not have a home at all. We have ensured through funding this year of €302 million for homeless services and emergency accommodation that emergency accommodation is available for people who need it. All of us in this House want to ensure we can exit people from emergency accommodation into safe and secure housing.

Deputy O'Rourke mentioned HAP tenancies. One of the reasons it is difficult to get those tenancies relates to how the private rental market is functioning right now. We are, on average, securing 680 to 700 new HAP tenancies per month. That does not meet demand. Things that affect the private rental market are continually changing it and changing the landscape for those who own properties, which then leads to a further flight of properties from the market and makes it more difficult. I am sure Deputy Ó Broin has engaged with property owners in this space and they have told him that directly. The last thing I want to do is support a measure that will make the situation worse, while it remains challenging.

I welcome the support Deputy Ó Broin has given the tenantin situscheme. We need to make sure people are supported when landlords exit. We have more than 1,300 sales concluded under the tenant in situscheme, a further 1,260 at various stages of sale approved and going through conveyancing, and a further 1,000 into next year. I will be continuing that scheme into next year. It has been very successful. We will continue to support it. We are, in the main, ending HAP tenancies and converting them into permanent social housing, as we are ramping up social housing supply, which I will speak to in a moment.

The tenant in situ scheme is complemented by the cost-rental tenant in situscheme.I never expected the numbers to be great in that space but where landlords are selling it gives an option to people who cannot afford to purchase the home, are above the social housing limits and want to stay in that home. We have about 150 landlords and properties in that space through the cost-rental tenant in situscheme. That is set up on an administrative basis but I intend early next year to legislate for it.

We are using the first-home tenant in situscheme, which Deputies opposite opposed. It has been successful across the country in helping first-time buyers. There have been over 7,000 registrations and nearly 3,000 approvals. Included in those approvals are the first 60 households which have been approved to purchase properties they wish to stay in from their landlords. Those measures are in place to assist. We need to ensure we are exiting more people from homelessness and I will turn to that in a moment.

Supply is key across the board. We will attain our social housing target this year across all tenures and deliver more new-build social homes than we have done in decades. We have a strong pipeline for next year and will have strong delivery in the last quarter of this year. That is because of the Housing for All plan. In every city, town and village around the country, people will see good quality social homes being built for individuals and families. Planning permission data published last week showed nearly 9,700 homes were granted permission in quarter 3, an increase of 43% on the same quarter of 2022. It also shows residential planning permissions granted from January to December were up 13% on the same period last year.

Commencements are important because they are housing starts. In October 2023, there were 2,624, up 42.5% on the number of new homes commenced in October 2022. More than 26,500 new homes were commenced in the first nine months of this year. That is about 16.5% up on last year. Momentum on housing delivery is increasing substantially across all tenures. Important within that are completions. There were 8,452 completions in quarter 3 of this year. That is up nearly 15% on last year. We completed 22,500 homes in the first nine months of this year. I can confidently predict we will exceed our target substantially this year on housing delivery. By the end of this year, since I took over as Minister we will have delivered 100,000 new homes and have a strong pipeline into next year.

We have had ten years of significant undersupply of housing.

We are catching up. There are many out there who are not feeling the change, but I am meeting tenants right across the country who are getting their new social homes in all 31 local authorities of this Republic. If one looks at construction and compares us with the rest of Europe or looks outside of Europe, of 19 different European countries compared in the Euroconstruct report, Ireland is the only one this year where construction activity is increasing. It will increase further next year. The main reason that was put down to was the State intervention. The State is leading by example.

We have got to make sure that there are other avenues to prevent people from entering emergency accommodation and that where they enter emergency accommodation, they are there for the shortest time possible. In quarter 3 of this year, the most up-to-date figures, we saw a significant increase of 16.3% in the number of households prevented from entering emergency accommodation when compared with the same period last year. The Housing First programme has been the subject of international acclaim, as people will know, and it is working with 945 individuals right now who previously experienced long-term homelessness. They are currently in Housing First tenancies. Those people who live in precarious situations, who are at risk of homelessness in emergency accommodation or who are rough sleeping remain at the centre of our focus. They are the reason it is so important that the progress made to date, which I outlined earlier, should continue and that we build real momentum in that space.

The targets we have set ourselves under Housing for All were exceeded by over 5,000 last year. They will be exceeded again this year. In the context of the schemes we have in place, namely, the first home scheme, the vacancy and dereliction grants that bring older stock back into use for people to purchase, the CPO programme, the repair-and-lease scheme through local authorities and the refurbishment of commercial property, it is all happening. We need to build on that progress and expedite it into next year. We will do that. Things like the removal of the development levy have led to a significant increase in the number of new home starts. These are the type of measures that need to be taken when funding costs go up. One needs to be flexible in one's approach to dealing with housing. One cannot just come in here and promise to deliver 20,000 social and affordable homes - a quarter of which are apparently vacant stock - and state that one is going to purchase those properties by CPO and refurbish them and sell them back into the market in 12 months. It does not work that way. We have brought more than 8,500 voids back into use since I took over as Minister, and we will do around 2,600 this year. If one looks at vacant stock, one cannot just pluck a figure out of the air in an alternative budget and say that 4,000 of 20,000 properties will be vacant stock brought back into use in a 12-month period.

We have got to make sure that the measures we take are calibrated and do not have a detrimental effect in the context of reducing the number of properties available to people are in the private rental sector. That is the reason why we cannot support this legislation. Many Deputies know the effect this will have. It will lead to further flight from the market.

Deputy Ó Broin, who is shaking his head and who is entitled to do that should he wish, was the person who said in this House a number of months ago that everything should be on the table regarding the retention of landlords in the market in order to ensure that there are good rental properties available. No measures were brought forward whatsoever. The only measure that was brought forward was one to increase the tax on those property owners, which, like measure such as that before us, would lead to a further flight from the market. While the Bill is well meant - I am not disputing that - it would have a detrimental effect and make the situation worse. That is why I am not supporting it.

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