Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)

This legislation comes in the context of a severe housing crisis across the country not just now but for almost the past decade, people have been trying to find a home with little success, unfortunately. The Housing Finance Agency is about providing money for local authorities and other agencies such as approved housing bodies, etc., to build houses and for higher education authorities. It is a body that is very useful in that context but money is not the only problem when it comes to building houses. It is a serious problem for private developers trying to build houses because they cannot get finance anywhere only at an extremely high cost. Often, it is a big obstacle for a lot of small builders in particular in the west, north west, the midlands and outside major cities. Smaller builds trying to build a smaller number of houses find it difficult to get finance. I recently became aware of an example. A housing estate was built in a town in County Leitrim. I think eight units were left unbuilt. The bases were there. A man was going to buy them and looked to get money to finish them but he could not get it anywhere. He was told they did not feel there was a market for the houses and yet nobody can get a house and every time a house goes on the market, the cost goes through the roof. There is something wrong in the private sector that needs to be corrected quickly.

Delays in planning are also a big issue in housing particularly in rural areas. Infrastructure such as wastewater services are big issue. There are several examples in County Leitrim, Mohill being a clear one. The town was mentioned in an EPA report this week. If an application to build even ten houses came in, it would not get planning permission because the wastewater treatment system is not up to standard. It is the same in Leitrim village, Carrigallen and many towns across the country. It really needs to be looked at.

In the past week or ten days in my constituency, we have dealt with, I think, 15 cases of homelessness. This is quite unusual but it is having an impact. Families with young children, single people and even pensioners are coming in with notices to quit. They have to leave the houses they are renting and they cannot find anywhere else to go. People are ending up sleeping in cars, sharing couches with family and that sort of thing. They are not sleeping in a doorway but they are homeless. There needs to be a distinction. We need to recognise there is a huge problem in that respect. The councils in Sligo and Leitrim do not have emergency accommodation for these people, never mind a house. Even trying to find emergency accommodation for them is a problem. Today, there are eight houses for rent in County Leitrim with an average rent of €1,400. In Sligo, there are 18 properties with an average rent of €1,600. While the rents are not as bad as in Dublin or other places, one has to take into account the majority of people living in the north west are on a much lower income. Many cannot afford those prices or have a chance of affording them. HAP does not come close to meeting the cost of housing at the moment.

We have serious problems as well with planning permission across the country. In County Leitrim 66 houses were granted planning permission in 2024.

Leitrim got €2 million for the tenant in situ scheme and some of that had to be used to buy houses from last year. That scheme is a good one and could work and provide a possibility for people but it simply has not been funded. It is a huge problem to try to alleviate the issue of people who are in houses, get a notice to quit and have nowhere to go. If the council comes in and buys the houses at least it would do something to help them.

There is the issue of higher education. The Atlantic Technological University in Sligo has for years been looking at the possibility of being able to raise capital of its own to build student accommodation and it cannot do it. There is no reason it cannot be given that money. Instead the system is set up so private guys can come in and do this, but they are not doing it either. That needs to be examined and there needs to be something put in place to ensure students can get student accommodation when the university wants to build it and has the land to build it on, but cannot raise the money. That would alleviate the broader housing problem as well.

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