Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that: — Government housing targets are simply too low, and not delivering the necessary number of affordable homes;

— as we approach the one-year anniversary of the lifting of the temporary no-fault eviction ban, Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) data shows 19,011 eviction notices were issued in 2023, and 61 per cent of these were due to the sale of the property;

— homelessness continues to reach record highs, with 13,531 accessing emergency accommodation in January, 4,027 of them children, a 17 per cent increase over the last year;

— the Central Statistics Office Residential Property Price Index now shows average house prices are higher than the Celtic Tiger peak;

— the average national rent in Quarter 3 2023 was €1,598 per month, rising to €2,112 in Dublin, which is an 11 per cent national year on year change, and a 10 per cent increase in Dublin; and

— the regulation of short-term lets is being blocked by the European Commission, while analysis last week shows over 18,000 entire homes for short-term rental on Airbnb compared with only 2,007 for longer term rental on Daft; further notes that: — tenants live in fear of receiving a notice to quit from their landlord, and there is provision for only 1,500 homes to be purchased under the Tenant-in-Situ Scheme, while only about 130 landlords are being engaged with by the Housing Agency under the Cost Rental Tenant In-Situ (CRTiS) Scheme;

— recent media reports have revealed unscrupulous landlords have deployed CCTV to monitor tenants, engaged in unlawful evictions, failed to pay compensation to former tenants awarded by the RTB, and summarily fired employees;

— multiple efforts from the Opposition to improve the rights of renters have been ignored by the Government, including Labour's Residential Tenancies (Tenants' Rights) Bill 2021; and

— Labour first proposed a Bill to regulate short-term lets in the Seanad in 2017, and since then weak Government legislation has failed to tackle the removal of homes from the long-term rental market; recognises that: — in the absence of enough new homes being built, further action by Government is needed on measures to boost supply, including a greater focus on tackling vacancy and dereliction, and the regulation of short-term lets; and

— to reduce homelessness, it is necessary to keep people in their homes by introducing stronger rights for renters and increased application of the CRTiS Scheme; and calls for: — increased Government housing targets to be published, with an implementation plan to deliver the minimum 50,000 new homes we need a year that should also include ringfenced provision for older people, and people with disabilities;

— the introduction of greater security for renters through legislation to further limit the grounds for eviction and to end no fault evictions;

— the European Commission to stop dragging its feet on the regulation of short-term lets and for the Government to act aggressively to return homes to long-term rental;

— a European Union plan for affordable housing that will protect State investment in public housing, end the financialisation of housing, and tackle speculation in the housing system;

— increased enforcement powers for the RTB and local authorities to ensure exploitative landlords are held to account;

— a doubling of the Tenant-in-Situ Scheme to at least 3,000 homes a year, and increased take up of the CRTiS Scheme; and

— increased funding for local authorities to tackle vacancy and dereliction through the compulsory purchase of empty buildings.

I am delighted to move this motion on behalf of the Labour Party as its Private Members' business this morning.

10 o’clock

This motion concerns housing targets and regulation. It is an acknowledgment that Government housing targets are too low, the Government is not delivering the necessary number of affordable homes and we are seeing not just a housing crisis, but as the President has put it, a housing disaster, with all of us hearing from people across the country who are unable to access affordable homes to buy or rent. This failure is acknowledged by the Government. I raised the matter with the Taoiseach during yesterday’s Leaders' Questions and he responded by saying that the Government would not be opposing the Labour motion. While that is welcome, it is an empty gesture if the Government is not planning to do anything to address the housing crisis. For too long - the past four years, indeed - what we have seen is a Government acting like a bystander to a housing crisis, commenting on it and acknowledging that the targets are too low and delivery is falling short of demand, yet failing to adopt the measures that would have an actual impact on addressing the crisis. The Government is not acting with urgency or sufficient ambition.

That is the key message in our housing motion. We have noted in it that homelessness continues to reach record highs, which is shameful in a country that is running budget surpluses and almost at full employment. In January, 13,531 people accessed emergency accommodation. Of that number, more than 4,000 were children. It was shocking to see how little attention was paid by the headlines or Government to the fact that this was the first time the number of children in homelessness had exceeded 4,000. Each of those 4,000 cases is a human catastrophe for the family, the child, the child’s future prospects and our society. These children are growing up in homelessness. They are growing up in hotel bedrooms and without space in which to develop, to which they can invite friends, and in which they can do their homework and reach their full potential. The 4,000 figure represents a 17% increase over the past year. In the meantime, we are seeing house prices that are higher than their Celtic tiger peak. Rents are skyrocketing despite rent pressure zone legislation. In quarter 3 of last year, the average national rent was €1,598 per month. In Dublin, it was more than €2,000 per month. That is unaffordable for far too many people. The regulation of short-term lets is being blocked by the European Commission. In response, the Government says it is waiting on a decision as if there is nothing it can do about the matter. According to analysis last week, more than 18,000 homes are now available for short-term rental on Airbnb compared with only 2,000 for longer term rental on Daft. Tenants are living in fear of receiving a notice to quit from their landlords. There is provision for only 1,500 homes to be purchased under the tenant in situscheme. The Housing Agency is engaging with a derisory figure of approximately 130 landlords under the cost-rental tenant in situscheme. Many of us have heard from landlords who are deeply frustrated because they want to engage but are being blocked. Recent media reports revealed that unscrupulous landlords had deployed CCTV to monitor tenants, had engaged in unlawful evictions and had summarily fired employees. I have raised the case of Mr. Marc Godart a number of times in the Dáil, yet we are seeing no action on such matters by the Government. For years, multiple efforts by the Opposition to improve the rights of renters and provide for more effective housing policy have been blocked or ignored by the Government, including our Residential Tenancies (Tenants' Rights) Bill 2021 and the Bill that we first proposed to regulate short-term lets some years ago. Since then, there has been a lack of action by the Government.

In the context of all of these issues, our motion calls on the Government to publish increased housing targets. The Taoiseach has been promising me for some months that the Government will do this. We all know that the housing targets in Housing for All, as the Government calls it, are too low. We call it "Housing for Some" because it is not delivering for all. Its target of approximately 30,000 is too low, given that we all know that in or around 50,000 new homes are needed per year. We also know that we need to see ring-fenced provision for older people and people with disabilities, for whom housing insecurity has become a pressing issue. We want to see greater security for tenants and assertive action on the regulation of short-term lets as opposed to just waiting for the European Commission to move. At EU level, we want to see a European Union plan for affordable housing that will protect State investment in public housing, end the financialisation of housing and tackle speculation in the housing system. Housing should not be seen as a market. Too often, we all fall into the trap of calling it a market, but housing is a right. A home is a basic human right, and we should recognise that in our laws and policies. We want increased enforcement powers for the RTB and local authorities to ensure that exploitative landlords are held to account. We want a doubling of the tenant in situscheme and increased funding and enhanced powers for local authorities to tackle vacancy and dereliction through the compulsory purchase of empty buildings. The Government does not oppose any of these calls, as it recognises that they are necessary, but why is it not doing something about them?

Housing is consistently the No. 1 concern for people in Ireland. According to last year’s spring Eurobarometer, 61% of people in Ireland named housing as one of the top two issues facing the country. The Government often suggests that it is an issue for people across Europe, but that 61% compares with an EU average of 10%. The housing situation here is really bad. This is a country that once had one of the highest rates of homeownership in the EU, but there has been an astounding drop off on that front, as the Minister of State will be well aware. It decreased by nearly 15% in 20 years. Young people and those on lower incomes are particularly affected. On average, a couple would need a combined income of €127,000 to buy a three-bedroom property in Dublin. It is no wonder that less than one third of under-40s own their own homes. Rent costs are skyrocketing, protections for renters are desperately poor and people are vulnerable to eviction and remain in fear of eviction, lacking housing security. This has significant consequences for older people especially. Yesterday, I raised the case of a man who had contacted me fearing he would die before he got a home of his own. He is in private rental accommodation in Dublin and is in desperate insecurity. He is in his 60s and retired and has no prospect of having a secure home.

When people cannot buy a home and renters have no certainty because of unaffordability and a lack of protection, they are stripped of the benefits of having a home in the ways that count, yet the Government has still not moved to change that. It may be due to a belief in a John B. Keane-style culture of land ownership and property. It may be because the Government has not taken notice of the shift away from homeownership because of unaffordability. It may be because of an ideological opposition to delivering homes. As we all know and as the Minister of State will acknowledge, the real reason is the Government is just not building enough homes. It is relying on the private sector to deliver, but that sector is simply not delivering.

What we need to see is State investment in the delivery of homes. We must see an increase in building targets to match the established need. We need ring-fenced funding for accessible homes for older people and disabled people. We need the adoption of measures to end no-fault evictions to ensure that people in rental homes have security. We need to see a Government that is not just acting as a bystander or waiting for the European Commission to move on the regulation of short-term lettings. We need to see a Government that will create real enforcement powers for the RTB to crack down on dodgy landlords like Marc Godart. Local authorities need to be funded and provided the necessary resources to tackle vacancy and dereliction, which is a scourge across communities. We need the delivery of social and affordable homes through State investment. We have seen the Land Development Agency - the “Lame Duck Agency”, as we call it - moving far too slowly to deliver the necessary levels of social and affordable homes. We need to see a Government that will put a rocket under the Land Development Agency and ensure that it can deliver the homes we so badly need.

Under the Government’s watch, housing remains unaffordable and insecure. It is seen as a commodity by the Government, not a civil right for all. We in Labour believe that a property should not be used as an investment opportunity when so many people are locked out of renting or buying a secure home for themselves. We believe that the Government’s laissez-faireapproach cannot be reconciled with the social objective of ensuring that our people and all of our communities have access to secure and affordable housing. There is a political choice to be made, and this motion represents our political choice and our call on the Government to ensure that the State steps up and delivers the necessary resources and for the Government to act with urgency and ambition to tackle this serious and deepening housing disaster. Otherwise, we will see increased homelessness and evictions.

We saw shocking numbers of evictions last year. We will see more and more people like the man I spoke about earlier who fear they will die before they are ever able to access a secure home of their own.

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