Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Minister well in his new role. The tenant in situ scheme has been hugely successful in preventing hundreds of families in Cork from becoming homeless. This scheme has allowed Cork County Council to buy up properties for tenants who face a no-fault eviction notice allowing the family to remain in the property as council tenants. This scheme is working and should be expanded to ensure the maximum number of tenants at risk of eviction and homelessness can avail of it. Instead of increasing this vital protector for renters with eviction notices, the Minister has reduced funding and cut targets for this scheme. He has also imposed a series of new restrictions on the operation of the scheme. For example, under the new rules, single people and couples without children will be excluded. This in itself is deeply concerning. This new rule not only disregards the realities many face in our society but also maintains unfairness in a system that should be about providing housing stability for all who need it regardless of their circumstances. Single people and couples without children are just as vulnerable to housing instability as families with children. With the exclusion of these groups, the Minister is telling many people that they are less deserving of having a stable home simply because they do not fit a certain family model. This is not just an unfair distinction, it is a deeply discriminatory one.

A case that has been covered on RedFM and in local newspapers involves a 33-year-old man named Jonathan who lives in a caravan in Cobh. He was staying at his sister's place and had to move to a car park. The council is pushing him on again. He works two jobs and cannot get on the housing list because he does not have an address. He was told to use his sister's address. This means her rent will go up so the system is very unfair. I want to put that on the record because there are many other people like this.

I will finish by saying housing should be a right and not a privilege determined by the size of one's family. The restrictions on the tenant in situ scheme need to be reversed to ensure that everyone - single or couple, parent or not - has access to a secure stable home.

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