Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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55. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to outline his plans to deal with the circa 90,000 persons on the housing waiting list; if he will provide a progress report on the number of National Asset Management Agency units that have been given over for social housing; if he will provide full details of all plans for social housing new builds throughout the country; the timeline for the transfer of rent supplement to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33941/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Government's housing policy statement, published in June 2011, clearly identifies that the priority for Government will be to meet the most acute needs of households applying for social housing support. I am determined to ensure that the social housing programme optimises the delivery of social housing and the return for the resources invested. To achieve this, it is essential that we tailor the use of available Exchequer supports to prevailing conditions and explore the full range of solutions to address housing needs.

The financial parameters within which we will be operating for the coming years rule out a return to large-scale capital funded construction programmes. The Government is committed to responding more quickly and on a larger scale to social housing support needs through a variety of mechanisms, including through increased provision of social housing. In July 2012, I announced details of a three-year funding programme of €100 million to deliver some 800 new units of voluntary and local authority owned social housing. This includes a construction programme for 185 local authority houses and 111 houses for special needs accommodation for the approved housing bodies.

Delivery of social housing will be facilitated through more flexible funding models such as the rental accommodation scheme and leasing, but the Government is also committed to developing other funding mechanisms that will increase the supply of permanent new social housing. There is also obvious potential, across a range of housing programmes, for the Government's objective of sourcing and providing suitable residential units for use as social housing to be aligned with the commercial objectives of the National Asset Management Agency.

At the end of quarter 2, 2013, some 296 properties had been delivered for social housing from NAMA's portfolio, with contracts signed in respect of a further 101 properties. This brings the overall total number of residential properties completed or committed to social housing under the initiative to date to a little under 400 properties. It will continue to be my Department's objective in 2013 to maximise the delivery of social housing from the NAMA portfolio using all of the resources available. In spite of the currently challenging circumstances the overall final outcome for social housing in 2012 is some 5,000 units. It is provisionally estimated that in the region of 5,000 units will be provided in 2013.

In March 2012, the Government approved in principle the transfer of responsibility for recipients of rent supplement with an established housing need from the Department of Social Protection to local authorities using a new housing assistance payment, HAP. My Department and the Department of Social Protection have been working closely on the legal, policy and operational issues involved in the project. It is intended that the test phase of the HAP would be carried out in early 2014 subject to the necessary housing and social welfare legislative provisions being in place, including those relating to facilitating deduction of rents at source from welfare payments. Once the test phase is complete the scheme will be extended to other local authorities.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister of State should admit to the reality that we have a housing crisis. This is the main issue that comes through my door every day. People come having waited ten years for a housing allocation and with problems with transfers. The rental accommodation scheme is drying up. Some landlords figure they can get more from the private rental schemes than the RAS. We are moving to a position whereby rent allowance is being run by the local authorities. How will it be run? Will the same conditions of RAS apply such as not allowing landlords to push people out of private rented accommodation unless they are selling the home? Staffing levels in the local authority are having to deal with this. Are the resources in place? Housing workers are under severe pressure at the moment without having to take on rent allowance.

Between 90,000 and 100,000 families in the State are on housing waiting lists but the Minister of State referred to 397 units from NAMA, 800 voluntary housing units, 185 new builds and a total of 285 units in Dublin city between 2013 and 2016. It is a disaster. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, a member of the Labour Party, is standing over all of this. Why is there no immediate plan to sit down and figure out that 90,000 families need to be housed? That does not include the homeless section. Some ten people present themselves every day to the local authorities from the homeless sector. It is a disaster and there should be a critical response from the Minister of State to the crisis we are facing at the moment.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I agree with Deputy Collins that we have large housing waiting lists. Those housing waiting lists have been building up for many years, including during the Celtic tiger years when there was money around. Unfortunately, we are constrained in terms of funding. That is why we are adopting a flexible approach whereby we are delivering 5,000 units per year.

Deputy Collins asked a specific question about the HAP. People will pay a differential rent when they transfer to the HAP. It will be different to rent supplement. We will be getting rid of the poverty traps that exist under the rent supplement arrangement. This has generally been welcomed throughout the House.

Deputy Collins asked about private landlords and whether people in private accommodation could be subject to the whims of the landlord.

The Government is also amending the legislation under which the Private Residential Tenancies Board operates and this measure is going through the Oireachtas at present. The Government wishes to give as much security as possible to tenants in all situations, no matter who is their landlord, be it a local authority, a private landlord or an approved housing body. As for NAMA, it has been very slow and I have expressed my concern about the transfer being slow but it has speeded up this year. This is because what is called a special purpose vehicle has been put in place into which NAMA is gathering appropriate units and that is speeding up the process. This is the reason there has been a much more significant number this year than was the case last year, bringing the total from NAMA up to almost 400. The Department meets NAMA regularly and in so far as it can, it is putting on pressure to ensure delivery from NAMA. However, the Government is in a tight financial position and cannot spend money the State does not have. Nevertheless, I am as concerned as Deputy Joan Collins to ensure the needs of people who need housing support are addressed and this is the reason the Government is taking all the measures being taken.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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While the time for the question has expired, Deputy Joan Collins briefly.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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No real plan is in place.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Yes, there is.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Government has not stated, given that 95,000 families nationally are concerned, how it should address this issue over a three to five-year period. It will not be resolved through the provision of 5,000 houses per year, even were the Government to meet that level. As for the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, I have encountered cases in which a RAS landlord has sold the housing unit and the occupant has remained in that house awaiting support from the local authority. The landlords in the area realise they now can get more from private rentals and that person remains stuck and cannot move. A free for all is taking place and it is absolutely horrendous. The Minister of State has no plan.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy but must stop her there, as we are way over time.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I must make two points in response. First, of those people on the housing waiting list, approximately 40% are in receipt of rent supplement and therefore are already getting some support from the State. Second, with regard to RAS, such schemes are the responsibility of local authorities. Consequently, if the landlord sells the house, the local authority has a responsibility to the people concerned.