Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The amendments go to the heart of social and affordable and cost-rental targets. To give the Minister of State an insight, in Cork, 32 cost-rental properties came on the market from Cork City Council. Some 900 people or couples applied for them. That is why targets are so important. Do not get me wrong. It probably changed the lives of those who got the 32 properties, but imagine the disappointment for the 868 applicants who did not get them and the heartbreak they felt. This is not just for cost-rental housing but also affordable housing. Affordable housing is not working. I raised it two weeks ago with the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. I have a situation now where four people are trying to buy affordable houses in Cork in Whitechurch and White's Cross, in two developments, but they are short.

This goes back to the whole idea of targets. When the affordable housing Bill came in, it was possible to get 40% of the equity, but that has now been capped at €100,000. I am dealing with four people now. I raised one case with the Taoiseach. It involves a separated father who is working full-time and has two children. He is trying to put a roof over his head. He is living with his parents at the moment. Under the current system, he cannot have a home for his family. He does not qualify for social housing because he is earning too much. He cannot buy a house on the private market because he does not earn enough. The only hope he has is affordable housing but he cannot get it because this Government's affordable housing is unaffordable. A lady was on to me this evening. She switched from a three-bedroom, semi-detached house to an end of terrace house because it was slightly cheaper. Now she is still €14,000 short. This lady had been on the housing list for eight years. She has one child. She has done well. She went back to college. She got an education. Now her salary has put her off the housing list but she cannot buy affordable housing.

Targets for social, affordable and cost-rental housing need to be built in, but they also really need to be truly affordable. I can only speak for the communities I represent in Cork North-Central. What is being offered at the moment is not affordable. House prices and rents are rising.

Affordable housing was one of the biggest weaknesses with this. Affordability was linked to the market when it should have been linked to people's income. The biggest problem with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is that it has always been based on the market when it should be based on need.

I spoke at an event last week. I came from Knocknaheeny social housing and so did my wife, who lived around the corner in Courtown Drive. I bought my own house. My two sisters built houses and my wife's brother built a house. Social housing was the safety net that my family needed and that many other families need. This Government is failing to provide enough social housing because its targets are too low. I will give the Minister of State one example. In the first three months of this year, in both Cork City Council and Cork County Council, 31,000 people bid on 145 social houses. There were 31,000 bids for 145 houses. That is madness. This is the issue, however. The Minister of State should think of the heartbreak people experience every Wednesday in Cork city and county because of the choice-based letting, CBL, system. People text and email me at five minutes past midnight every Wednesday night. They want to be the first people into the CBL system because it is open for a week. They make a bid on a house and then text me to ask if I will make a representation for them. I will then make a representation for a house in Glanmire or maybe Blackpool but it will turn out that I will make 54 representations for the same property for 54 different people and families.

I was in Cork City Council on Monday with a lady who has been on the housing waiting list for 18 years and four months. How can any person be 18 years on a list? Does the Minister of State know the reason? She was put into a rental accommodation scheme, RAS, property and forgotten about. RAS and the housing assistance payment, HAP, are not social housing. If this Government could do one thing before it finished up, it would be to stop describing HAP and RAS properties as social housing. They are not social housing because people do not have security of tenure and they do not know when they are going to be evicted.

I have a book here with a list of people facing notices to quit. I ring them once a week to see how they are getting on. Last week in Cork, a lady got a letter from Cork City Council to say it had no emergency accommodation. This was on the front of the The Echolast night in Cork. The lady took a case against Cork County Council to the Ombudsman because the council wanted her to travel 30 miles to emergency accommodation. She could not get to work and the children could not get to school because transport services were too far away. To be fair, the Ombudsman ruled against the council. I am also dealing with a lady tonight who has been in recovery for a year and Cork County Council will not give her emergency accommodation. That is how bad things are. That is why we need targets. We do not have realistic targets. I am not talking about the Minister's current targets which are too low. He knows that if people reach the target, it looks good for him.

I will leave the Minister of State with this message. Until such a time as the Government provides more housing each year than the number of families and individuals on the housing list, the housing and homeless crisis will get worse.

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