Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

The motion is a very important one. It is putting forward solutions. We have heard criticism directly from the Taoiseach regarding the lack of solutions, but they are there, we have put them forward and we are putting them forward again tonight.

The Opposition parties are bringing this motion to highlight that this housing crisis is no longer just a crisis. In fact, it has not been a crisis for many years, it is and has been an emergency. It is, in fact, beyond an emergency, it is a social catastrophe. When we look at what has happened in terms of the housing crisis and this record - we can talk about a new Government, but this is a continuation of the previous Government, which has within it Members who have been in power since 2011 - we see that it is now causing a social catastrophe in particular in the area of mental health. We look at the despair and anxiety among half a million adults stuck in their childhood bedrooms, who are unable to start an independent life, get a home of their own, start a family or see a point at which they can actually begin their lives. I have spoken to many of them and they talk about how difficult it is to see hope. Many of them have emigrated or are emigrating. They are the nurses, doctors and tradespeople that we need in this country.

If we go to renters, a million renters in this country are now facing even higher rents in the coming years, rents that will be increased across the board to market rents that are absolutely unaffordable. Then we can look at those who are in homelessness or in hidden homelessness - the people who are not counted - the couch surfers, those sleeping in cars and those in domestic violence refuges who are not counted in our homeless figures. All of them are experiencing some level of anxiety and ongoing stress. That is why this housing crisis should not be called just a crisis: as I said, it is a social catastrophe.

We need to be clear that having a home of your own that is safe, secure and affordable is the most basic of human needs. It is, in fact, a human right. Although this Government does not view it that way and has yet to legislate in policy or in law to make housing a human right, housing is a human right, one of the most basic rights that people have. Everyone in this country has a right to a safe, secure and affordable home.

The housing catastrophe is no accident of policy, it results from decades of policies. We could go back 40 years to see the roots of the housing crisis. It goes back to the years of the Celtic tiger when local authorities were effectively decommissioned from delivering social housing. We heard from a former county manager at the housing committee last week who spoke about this. He was the manager of Fingal County Council and he talked about when councils had the capacity, when they were delivering thousands of homes directly every year. What happened was Fianna Fáil-led governments said local authorities were no longer needed and they turned to Part V and the developers to deliver social housing. They decommissioned local authorities and then Fine Gael, during the years from 2011 onwards, effectively gutted local authorities of their ability and capacity to deliver housing. We talk about an emergency and the Government talks about the housing crisis, but it created it. There is no acknowledgment of the fact that this crisis was created by decades of policy failures and bad policy decisions that effectively decommissioned the role of local authorities in delivering housing. We must recover that and get back to the point at which local authorities can deliver thousands of homes each year.

The other key policy that has brought us here is the treatment of housing as a financial asset, as a real estate asset class that is about investor funds and corporate landlords profiting from housing. That is why the Minister is removing the rent cap between new tenancies. His policy makes it very clear: he is allowing rents to rise in order to incentivise a supply of new housing. He is going to remove the inter-tenancy cap and rents will be brought up to market rents. He is going to introduce a policy whereby new-build units will be tied to inflation. What that means is that if inflation rises to 4%, 5% or 20%, rents will rise on that basis. What we are going to see is incredible. The Minister admitted to it today: he cannot protect nurses, doctors, students, guards - anyone needing short-term leases - from rent increases. Is this not absolutely unacceptable? How is he justifying allowing rents to rise to market rents when we are in the middle of a housing emergency?

The Minister talks about barriers and blockages to housing. I have made the point publicly, and I will say it again: right now, the Minister for housing and this Government are one of the blockages, if not the major blockage and barrier to housing.

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