Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann:notes that:

- the State is in the midst of the most severe housing crisis in its history, due mostly to a drastic shortage of social housing;

- 89,872 households, representing well in excess of 100,000 men, women and children are currently on local authority housing waiting lists, a rise of 30% in just five years;

— approximately 74,000 households are in receipt of rent supplement at a cost of €344 million in subsidy for private landlords, more than a third of whom are in Dublin;

— 2013 saw a decrease of 36% in the construction of new housing;

— the latest reports from both the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, and Daft show private residential rents in Dublin have risen by 26% since the Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition took office in 2011 and that this trend is continuing;

— homelessness services are reporting unprecedented need with rough sleep numbers in Dublin trebling last year, resulting in 139 people sleeping on the city's streets during harsh winter conditions with many more forced to live in emergency or temporary accommodation;

— more than €1 billion has been cut from the housing budget since 2008;

— City council inspections have found that the vast majority of rental properties in inner city Dublin do not meet minimum standards for human habitation;

— the Government has failed to deliver less than a quarter of promised National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, housing after three years in office;

— the Government is also currently failing in its stated policy objective to end long-term homelessness by 2016; and

— the rental accommodation scheme has failed to deliver adequate numbers of homes and to protect those it has housed from eviction;

recognises:

— the great work done by many voluntary and co-operative organisations across the State to provide housing where the State has failed or refused to do so;

— the vital role played by homeless agencies and charities in providing for people experiencing homelessness and lobbying for policies to end homelessness;

— that the Government has failed to prioritise the housing of citizens in need and are repeating the failed policies of its Government predecessors; and

— in solving the social housing crisis and ending long-term homelessness it is essential that the quality of homes provided are built to the highest standards - being warm, spacious and secure;

concludes that:

— the solution to the housing crisis needs to become a political priority for this Government which is underpinned by credible Government initiatives to build and deliver more social housing;

— alternative funding models must be used to allow local authorities to build new homes as and where needed;

— NAMA must be given a deadline for delivery of promised housing and this process should be overseen by the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht;

— soaring rent rates need to be tackled; and

— the Government has a responsibility and duty to prioritise housing in the remainder of this Dáil term; and

calls on the Government to:

— introduce legislative change to allow for the initial use of €1 billion from the Strategic Investment Fund to deliver at least 6,600 additional social housing units over the next two years;

— ensure that all new housing provided, whether for emergency accommodation or for long-term housing, meets the standards as laid down in regulations and efficiently provides warmth, space and other essential utilities required of a modern home;

— further prioritise local authority construction as a method of providing homes for those who need them;

— take urgent action regarding spiralling rents by implementing a system of rent control that guarantees a fair rate of return for landlords that is linked to both the consumer price index and the quality of the property;

— enable local authorities to establish independent housing trusts allowing them to source financing independent of the national debt in order to build and maintain new social housing;

— ensure that recipients of Housing Assistance Payment will not be removed from housing waiting lists;

— amend equality legislation to disallow the practice of landlords discriminating against recipients of rent supplement and immediately reform the operation of the scheme to ensure recipients seeking rental properties are not unnecessarily disadvantaged;

— broaden access to the mortgage-to-rent scheme;

— commit to ring-fencing funding for housing and homelessness services for the lifetime of this Government;

— introduce a deposit retention scheme under the supervision of the PRTB; and

— set a date for a referendum on the Constitutional Convention's recommendation that Bunreacht na hÉireann should include a right to housing cognisable by the courts.

The average monthly rent across the State is €915, nearly 50% of an average worker’s take-home pay. The average rent in Dublin city is now €1,233, nearly 60% of the average take-home pay. Rent controls are not new and have been shown to be effective in conjunction with the State provision of social housing. Rates should be tied to the consumer price index and the quality of the accommodation. On Daft.ie, there are utterly substandard rooms, studios and flats being let for extortionate prices. This cannot continue. Focus Ireland, Threshold, Peter McVerry and even the former Minister of State with responsibility for housing, now the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, agree. I was very disappointed by the dismissal by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, of the idea of rent control before the PRTB, Private Residential Tenancies Board, even released its report on the matter.

Another measure in the motion which my Sinn Féin colleagues will elaborate on is the deposit retention scheme, a Labour policy before it entered government.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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It will be implemented.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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The then responsible Minister, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, even promised to put one in place while rejecting a Sinn Féin amendment to the residential tenancies Bill which would have done just that. Tenants cannot afford to have their deposits withheld without justification which is now such a common practice that nearly every renter has experienced it at least once. Many renters do not even understand they have a right to their deposit back. Such a scheme would be a massive improvement.

We call for a referendum on the right to housing. The Constitutional Convention overwhelmingly voted to support a referendum on the issue. It decided the right put before the people should be robust and cognisable by the courts. This right has been long denied the poorest in our society. One just needs to look at the recent complaint against the State by the International Federation for Human Rights on behalf of 130,000 residents in estates in inner city Dublin and Limerick. Housing is not a right in Ireland in 2014. Instead, it is a very expensive privilege.

Will the Government take on board these proposals? I am sure the Minister, like me, has many people coming to his constituency clinics, breaking down over the lack of housing or their rent supplement being stopped. I have had countless families coming into my office seeking emergency accommodation. Many of them actually queue up at the hotels offering such accommodation as they are told by the homeless services in their local authority that no places are available. For those who secure hotel emergency accommodation, they find they have no facilities for their children or for cooking and have to leave their accommodation during the day as they cannot hang around the hotel lobby. It is an absolute scandal that we are relying on hotels to provide emergency housing. We must be more imaginative in how we tackle this problem.

We raised concerns about the housing assistance payment, HAP, during the most recent debate on housing legislation but the then Minister responsible, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, prevaricated. We identified that anyone who availed of HAP would be taken off the housing waiting list because they would be considered to be adequately housed. The Minister of State responded to our concerns by saying they would be put on the transfer list. The reality is that anyone on the transfer list will not be considered eligible for social housing for two years. Some local authorities do not even have a transfer list. The Minister was misinformed in this regard.

Schemes which allowed people to make a financial contribution towards senior citizen local authority accommodation seem to have fallen off the radar with many local authorities suspending them. Now, there are waiting lists in most local authority areas with people who want to go into senior citizen accommodation. As much of this accommodation consists of bedsits, financial contributions made by applicants could help in converting them into double accommodation, as is happening in some of the schemes in my area. There are options to get extra housing that we need to look at more carefully.

I know the Government made much play about dealing with social housing voids. The voids were a natural progression in our system. If a person died or for whatever reason left their local authority house, the next person in line got it. Unfortunately, the number of empty local authority houses in such cases built up over the years because of a lack of funding to renovate the void after it was vacated. We need to get back to the roll-on effect with people getting housing in such circumstances and not building up voids.

Landlords the length and breadth of the country are putting up the prices of their rental properties. In many cases people are ending up homeless or looking for another rental supplement to match these increases. This is impossible in the Dublin area. That is why we have called for rent controls but the Government has refused to introduce them.

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I understand Deputies Michael Colreavy and Jonathan O'Brien wish to share time. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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This is a surreal debate. First, we should not talk about houses but homes, although I am certain I will lapse in that regard myself. There is a difference between a house and a home. A house can be used by someone to make a profit on or visit occasionally, such as one at a nice seaside place. A home, however, is where families are reared, shelter is provided and people feel safe and secure. It is their little place in this world.

There appears to be a paradox in this regard in Ireland, however. For the past several years, we have been in the throes of a financial crisis as a result of an economic system where the building of houses, apartments, office and industrial buildings played a major role. However, despite the massive number of units built during the so-called “tiger period”, a wholly insufficient number of local authority homes were constructed. Private developers were given the ability to opt out of their social responsibility under Part V of the Planning and Development Act. At the same time, local authorities were also selling off many properties but were slow to replenish stock. While the Government is not responsible for much of what happened then, perhaps the parties opposite should have done more when in opposition to make sure that it did not happen.

The Government is responsible for fixing the problem. That is its job. As an Opposition we are responsible for giving the Government proposals and suggestions to help it to fix the problem that was left by the previous Government. That is the way I see it. We are not here to score political points, we are here to help.

The public private partnership model which prioritised profit over the provision of homes was one which was pursued during the Governments of the Celtic tiger era. Major housing regeneration in Dublin such as St. Michael's estate, in Dominic Street and O'Devany Gardens collapsed when developers decided the profit margin would not be great enough for them or because they got into financial trouble. Let us contrast that with the situation that has developed since the onset of the recession where more than €1 billion has been cut from the housing budget to construct homes for those who need them. That, coupled with cuts to rent supplement and the failure to tackle the crisis in employment has resulted in a spiralling of the number of people who now need homes. The situation is almost past the stage of being able to claw it back.

Even at this late stage Sinn Féin has an alternative vision of how housing needs should be addressed. We believe the right to a home is a basic human right, one which must be protected by the State. Such a right cannot be granted or withdrawn at the whim of a Government or a Minister. We recommend that this right be enshrined in Bunreacht na hÉireann and enforceable by the courts, as was recommended by the recent Constitutional Convention. That change, and the funding to support it, should it be introduced, would transform the situation in terms of homes and homelessness in Ireland. Adequate housing should be defined as a home with suitable privacy, space, security, accessibility, lighting, ventilation, basic infrastructure, and location with regard to work and basic facilities. Sinn Féin maintains that everyone has the right to protection from homelessness. We also believe that every person has the right to security of tenure, whether in public or private housing.

However, the reality of the current situation is very stark and it is depressing to read the figures and to translate them into the human misery they represent. Currently, approximately 90,000 households need homes. That is more than 100,000 men, women and children. Many are living with relatives or friends in grossly overcrowded conditions; other are living in substandard and overpriced rented accommodation while others still are in emergency accommodation for the homeless provided by local authorities or charities or are among the growing numbers sleeping rough on our streets.

Rent supplement costs the State a large sum but it does not solve the crisis that exists in this country. A total of 74,000 households are in receipt of rent supplement at a cost of €344 million a year to the State. The cap that was introduced by the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, is well below the market average. That is the context of rising rents, especially but not solely in Dublin. In my area the maximum rent supplement that is paid is totally unrealistic and the situation will not change until rent control is introduced to reduce the level of rent currently paid in the private sector. The failure of rent supplement to tackle the housing crisis has forced people into homelessness because they are unable to match the market rate of rents.

The housing assistance payment, which is to replace the rent supplement, will remove recipients from waiting lists and condemn them to stay in private accommodation at the whim of the market for as long as they remain renters. That is the most unkind cut of all. The State has abdicated responsibility for such people who must continue to rent privately. That is shameful. It is a Government attempt to make it seem that the housing waiting list is reducing when in fact the Government is removing itself ever further from tackling the crisis in terms of the provision of homes for those who need them.

During the tenure of the Government there has been a failure to deliver homes that were originally promised by NAMA for social housing. It is scandalous to see so many empty housing units in this country and at the same time to see people lie in the street. It is scandalous that people cannot get a roof over their heads while there are empty houses all over the country. That makes no sense. To date, only 531 of a current total of 5,294 homes that were promised have been completed. As of June 2014, a total of 15 local authorities delivered no NAMA housing whatsoever.

Sinn Féin has identified €1 billion in unused money from Ireland's strategic investment fund. If we were to use the money, an additional 6,600 homes could be built over and above current targets, and 10,000 new social housing units could be built before next summer. The projection is based on costings from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in addition to figures from the Department on long-term vacant social housing units. In 2012, Sinn Féin proposed a large-scale investment through which it was projected that as many as 9,000 homes could be built for the same money. Failure by Government to act on the proposals at the time has resulted in the estimates being revised downwards. There are also additional benefits to constructing an extra 6,600 homes. I refer to the significant number of jobs for construction workers, many of whom have struggled to find sustainable employment since the bubble burst and who are unemployed. So many new homes would generate considerable rent for local authorities and could save the State €29 million if 6,600 households on rent supplement were placed in permanent homes.

The rising cost of rent is also pushing many who are on the brink into homelessness. Sinn Féin proposes a fair rent control system which bases rates on the consumer price index and the quality of accommodation.

Rent controls exist in some form in many European states, including Britain, France and Germany. Focus Ireland, Fr. Peter McVerry, Threshold and even prominent members of the Labour Party have supported call for some form of rent control. I understand a report on this is due to be published by Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, this month. Unreasonable rent increases cause many to lose a permanent roof over their heads and introducing measures to tackle this problem could, in some way, help our housing crisis.

In the north west it appears that local authorities have no funding to renovate vacated houses for re-letting or to facilitate transfers, even in the most meritorious of cases. Why is this? If we are serious about our responsibility to provide homes for those who cannot afford them, this situation cannot be allowed to continue.

I propose we accept the fact that in this State marriage and partnership breakdowns occur in some families. The State has not tackled this and it must be addressed because couples who divorce and separate are put through great difficulties when dealing with local authorities on housing. I am not saying it is easy - I am saying it needs to be addressed.

I will conclude by referring to a family from Slovakia that I dealt with yesterday. They may as well be Irish. I would not like to see an Irish family in Slovakia treated as this family has been treated here. The family has been here for most of the past seven years and four children were born in Ireland. One of the boys spent four years in Irish secondary school. The family was not familiar with Ireland's system of social protection and the father of the family worked in various odd-jobs for farmers and builders. When the jobs dried up in Ireland, the family moved to England for a short period for work. They did not find work in England and so returned to Ireland. Due to the habitual residence requirement, the father does not qualify for jobseeker's allowance nor supplementary welfare and the family cannot get on the housing list of the local authority. The father cannot pay the private rent and he is to be evicted tomorrow. When I contacted some agencies for the homeless, I learned there was no place available for this man and his family tomorrow. If children are starving and homeless, what am I doing here? What are any of us doing here?

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, on their appointments and wish them the best in their new roles. They face difficult jobs. The housing issues we are discussing were not created by them but they have an opportunity to do something positive and rectify the problems facing many people throughout the country. I left the Chamber to get a copy of the proposed amendment because I did not have a chance to read it before I arrived. It outlines some of the actions taken by the Government since it took power and some are welcome - I will not suggest the Government has done nothing positive. The former Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, worked on the issue of vacant dwellings in local authority areas and earmarked funding for this. This is starting to pay dividends in my area of Cork city - vacant houses have become available and this is welcome.

The former Minister of State also introduced the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014, which brought in the housing assistance payment, HAP, but I have a problem with this system. In theory, allowing a person continued access to housing supports when re-entering employment is very welcome. I raised my issue with the HAP system at the time it was debated and so did Deputy Ellis. My problem, specifically, is when a person becomes a HAP recipient, he or she is taken off the social housing list. I have read the Government position on this and I have examined the statements of the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly. They are reflected in the amendment that is to be moved by the Minister, which states that a HAP recipient will be able to access other housing options, such as local authority housing and voluntary housing schemes. However, many local authorities do not operate a transfer list. If the Minister is serious in what he says, he must direct such local authorities to operate a transfer list scheme. He must also outline the basic criteria for operating such a scheme or there will be a haphazard approach throughout the State. Uniformity is required when it comes to transfer onto the HAP system.

Regarding the construction of social housing, Sinn Féin has identified €1 billion that could create 6,600 dwellings at an average price of around €150,000 - this would save around €29 million in increased rents. The amendment to be tabled by the Minister states that 2014 will see the completion of around 11,000 houses and points out that a further 6,000 are earmarked. If this is the case, then I welcome it. However, this brings me to the main issue. It is not just a question of building houses - it will take more than 6,600 newly constructed houses to rectify the problem. This is a multifaceted issue that requires a multifaceted solution of which the construction of social housing is only one aspect.

Newly constructed social housing cannot consist only of standard two and three bedroom houses. I served as a councillor on Cork City Council for 11 years and over 50% of the people on the waiting list there are single applicants. We could build 6,600 or 11,000 two and three bedroom houses this year but it will not cater for single applicants. If we are serious about reducing housing waiting lists through a scheme of social housing construction, there must be a mix that caters for everyone in every circumstance. In addition to this, some areas have an ageing population and in my constituency I know of very elderly people in three and four bedroom council homes who want to downsize. This may be due to disability or difficulty getting upstairs and to the bathroom. Such people tell the council that they no longer require such a large home and would prefer something smaller that will be less onerous - perhaps a bungalow with a walk-in shower. They ask that the house be given to a family that needs it. Unfortunately, Cork City Council does not have that housing stock. Elderly people are forced to remain in three or four bedroom houses where it is impossible for them to get upstairs or access bathrooms. In such circumstances, housing officials recommend the person apply for an adoption grant to convert a bath into a walk-in shower.

They might get a stairlift. Then they apply for the housing adaptation grant, only to find there is no funding for it. They are stuck in this situation and meanwhile a family living in very overcrowded conditions and crying out for housing cannot get this house because we do not have the proper mix of house build. The Minister will publish a report on social housing in the coming weeks and I hope any report coming from the Department will take these issues on board. These are the nitty-gritty issues which would go a very long way to giving some relief to many individuals on the housing list.

I also wish to discuss rent allowance, the private sector and individuals on rent allowance schemes, RAS. The Minister will correct me if I am wrong but I believe that in the 1980s we had a rent cap in place, or at least there used to be rent controls. As far as I am aware they were ruled unconstitutional as the result of a court case. Earlier this year the then Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, stated she was examining the possibility of some form of rent stability measure. Whether she wanted to call it rent control was down to herself. In some of his recent remarks the Minister has ruled out this option, but he does not state this in the amendment to the motion, which states all options will be examined. If this is one of the options which comes forward as part of the report due next week the Minister will examine it, and if it means changing legislation this will be seriously considered. I welcome this. A total of 80% of people who come to my constituency office do so with housing-related issues such as those with a mortgage crisis; those on the verge being kicked out of a private tenancy because the rent has increased and they can no longer afford to give a backhander to the landlord because the rent supplement is nowhere near adequate; or the standard of accommodation not being up to scratch.

Earlier today I downloaded from the Department's website the most recent document, which dates from 2011. The document had multifaceted solutions and one of these was RAS. I do not know if the review will take RAS into account but I can tell the Minister hand on heart it is a disaster. People come to my office who went on RAS believing they would remain on local authority waiting lists only to find out later this was not the case. A property may have been up to scratch when it was first inspected but now it is in RAS the owner may have decided he or she is getting the money and will not make refurbishments or maintain the house. At present some RAS properties are a disgrace. RAS needs to be examined because it is a disaster waiting to happen. People are coming to our offices and going to local authorities stating they want to get out of RAS properties and back into local authority properties if possible. It is just not working.

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, will share time with Deputy Michelle Mulherin.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:"acknowledges that the economic downturn and contraction in construction activity since 2008 have created significant difficulties for many communities and individuals across Ireland;

recognises the high priority which the Government has assigned to housing and homelessness issues, particularly in the Housing Policy Statement of 2011, the Homelessness Policy Statement of 2013 and most recently in the Statement of Government Priorities 2014 - 2016 published in July of this year;

notes that:

— current house completions data (5,824 units completed by end July 2014) show that nationally there is a 32 per cent increase in output over the first seven months when compared to equivalent figures in 2013 (4,405 units completed) and that new Dublin house completions over the first seven months of the year are up 150 per cent on equivalent figures for 2013, increasing from 678 units to 1,693 units;

— by using the outturn to date, it is currently estimated that between 10,000 and 11,000 units will be completed in 2014, representing an annual increase of approximately 25 per cent;

— the 89,872 households on social housing waiting lists, as recorded by the statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments as at May 2013, represents a reduction of 9 per cent on the 2011 assessment total of 98,318; and

— within the funding constraints of recent years, the Government has responded in a variety of ways to meet emerging housing needs, including through the expansion of more flexible revenue-based funding and delivery mechanisms including leasing and the Rental Accommodation Scheme;

recognises that, with the more limited resources available, the main focus in terms of housing supports provided by Government must be on meeting the most acute needs of those unable to provide for their accommodation from their own resources;

welcomes the total €647 million housing allocation for 2014 which will result in an investment across a range of programmes and will support the delivery of over 6,000 units this year;

welcomes the provision of a €30 million funding stream to bring vacant and boarded up local authority units back into use, which will provide some 1,960 homes for families on housing lists;

recognises the Government’s enactment of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014, which provides a legislative basis for the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), which will be of significant benefit to long-term recipients of Rent Supplement;

further notes:

— the Government’s commitment that HAP recipients will have access to other social housing supports offered by local authorities through the transfer system;

— that in February 2014 the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government broadened the Mortgage-to-Rent Scheme to provide for local authority borrowers which aims to ensure that local authority homeowners in mortgage distress can remain in their home; and

— that the Department continues to work closely and successfully with the National Asset Management Agency, the Housing Agency, local authorities and approved housing bodies in relation to the delivery of social housing;

recognises the voluntary and cooperative organisations’ ongoing work in providing social housing using funding sources under the various Government schemes;

welcomes the Government’s commitment to end long-term homelessness by 2016;

supports the adoption of a housing-led approach to tackling homelessness, which involves access to permanent housing combined with appropriate ongoing support, as a core aspect of the Government’s Homelessness Policy Statement;

welcomes the ring-fencing of Government funding for homeless services in Budgets 2013 and 2014, in support of the discharge by local authorities of their statutory role in the provision of accommodation for homeless persons;

supports the Implementation Plan on the State’s Response to Homelessness which will deliver 2,700 units for homeless households by end 2016;

notes that the official Dublin rough sleeper count identified 127 individuals sleeping rough on a given night last April – a decrease on the figure of 139 recorded for November 2013;

acknowledges that a regional ‘Housing First’ service will commence shortly in the Dublin region which will have a focus on delivering new tenancies for homeless people with a history of rough sleeping and high level needs;

recognises that the private rented sector is an important element of the housing market, with approximately one in five households now renting their home in the private sector;

recognises that resolution of the housing supply situation is a key element in restoring stability to the rental market;

acknowledges that the growing evidence of increasing rents, particularly in Dublin, is a cause for concern but notes that, on average, rents in Dublin are still 12.7 per cent lower than they were at their peak in the fourth quarter of 2007, while rents nationally are almost 19 per cent lower than their peak in 2007;

notes that the study commissioned by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) on rent stability in the sector will be presented to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government in the coming days;

recognises that the introduction of any rent stability measures will require careful consideration by Government;

agrees that the overriding objective is to achieve stability and sustainability in the market for the benefit of tenants, landlords and society as a whole;

notes that the Government will be introducing legislative provisions for a Deposit Protection Scheme, to be operated by the PRTB, at Seanad Committee Stage of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012, which will eliminate the practice of landlords illegally withholding deposits and contribute to the ongoing regulation and development of the rental market;

welcomes Dublin City Council’s ongoing inspection programme for rental properties which is proving to be very effective in targeting non-compliant properties, enforcing minimum standards legislation and bringing properties into compliance to the benefit of over 3,000 tenants since March 2012;

acknowledges the complex issues of law involved in preventing discrimination by landlords against recipients of Rent Supplement but welcomes that options, including that of legal remedy, to address the practice of discrimination in such instances are currently being explored by the relevant Departments in consultation with the Attorney General;

acknowledges that there are, approximately, 74,000 rent supplement recipients, for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014; and

welcomes the Government’s commitment to:

— address the challenges in the property and construction sectors, including developing an overall strategic approach to housing supply through the implementation of the actions in Construction 2020 – A Strategy for a Renewed Construction Sector;

— ensure that all new housing provided, whether for emergency accommodation or for long-term housing, will meet the requirements laid down in the Building Regulations and best practice as set out in the Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities guidelines to support the delivery of quality homes which will fully meet the needs of occupants;

— develop and publish in the coming weeks a Social Housing Strategy which will set out a series of actions to address the supply of social housing over the next five years; and

— identify and facilitate the most appropriate models to maximise supply, management and maintenance of social housing in the longer term in order to deliver the key social housing objective of providing both for those households who cannot afford to house themselves and those who struggle to afford housing in the private market."

Earlier this year my Department announced a return to mainstream local authority housing construction and in particular the announcement of a €68 million construction programme over 2014 and 2015 that will enable local authorities to construct more than 450 houses. In May details of capital investment totalling more than €46 million for a range of housing projects, which will provide 416 units of accommodation for people with special needs, were announced. Of the €46 million, some €19 million has been ring-fenced for the delivery of 187 units to be acquired or constructed in local authority areas across the country specifically to accommodate persons and families who are homeless.

Some €10 million is being provided for the acquisition of 66 units by approved housing bodies to address the homeless problem specifically presented in the Dublin city area. The balance of the €46 million, approximately €16.7 million will fund the delivery of 163 units to accommodate persons with a disability and older persons in various locations around the country.

Some €30 million will fund the special measure to bring more than 1,900 vacant and boarded-up units back into social use. I deal with local authorities all the time and I have made it an absolute priority for local authorities to get these units back into place as quickly as possible. These units should never have been left go for the years they have been boarded up. It is scandalous and the local authorities, particularly in this city, need to get these units open and accessible to people straight away. It is crazy that this has gone on year on year over the past decade or so. I find it criminal to see these units boarded up when I have driven around the city of Dublin over the past ten years or so.

A further €10 million will resolve many of the most difficult unfinished housing estates and result in enhanced quality of life for families. Earlier this year, some €38.4 million was allocated to local authorities for the suite of housing adaption grants for older people and people with a disability. These grants will enable people to continue to live independently and remain at home for longer. In the case of local authority-owned properties, funding is allocated each year in respect of a range of measures to improve the standard and overall quality of their social housing stock. I recently announced the allocation of €23 million in capital funding for this purpose. Of this allocation, some €8 million will be provided to local authorities for adaptations and extensions to social housing to meet the needs of tenants with a disability or to areas serious overcrowding. Some €15 million will be invested in upgrading the energy efficiency of local authority homes this year. This is part of a three-year jobs stimulus programme that will see the energy efficiency of more than 25,000 of the most poorly insulated local authority homes improved. I am sure everybody in the House welcomes that.

This year, under the national regeneration programme, some €70 million is being provided to support regeneration programmes in Ballymun, Dublin city, Limerick, Cork, Tralee, Sligo and Dundalk. This ambitious programme of regeneration projects addresses the causes of disadvantage in these communities through a holistic programme of physical, social and economic regeneration. In all, more than 6,000 social housing units will be provided for in 2014 through leasing and existing capital programmes.

This will include 275 new units for people with special housing needs; a further 150 new units to be provided specifically for people with disabilities leaving institutional care through leasing arrangements, etc.; an additional 200 new homes under social housing investment programmes; an additional 1,900 new units from the construction stimulus package for void properties; more than 350 new transfers under the mortgage-to-rent scheme; approximately 850 new units through leasing arrangements; and a further 2,500 new transfers under the RA scheme. Those are just this year's actions. The housing matter is about much more than money however, it is about output and putting roofs over people's heads. The main engine behind actions on this will be the Government's soon to be published social housing strategy that is being formulated and nearly concluded.

The Government is committed to addressing the range of challenges it faces in the area of social housing. I am absolutely determined to do that. Construction 2020 provides for the development of a social housing strategy. The strategy will propose a range of approaches and many reforms that are innovative and challenging, and will provide a basis for an improved and sustainable approach to the provision of social housing supports in Ireland. It is being developed by my Department with input from key personnel in the Housing Agency and the National Economic and Social Council, following a public consultation process, which has significantly informed the drafting process. My intention is that the strategy will contain clear measurable actions that are to be taken to increase the supply of social housing.

It is clear that present and future solutions must be found to harness new funding streams. That is critical. It is not easy but it has to be done. While the local authorities will continue to have the lead role in addressing social housing need in their capacity as statutory housing authorities, the growing role of the not-for-profit sector, as represented by the approved housing bodies and other potential investors will also be further developed. Through this strategy, the Government intends developing a new vision of public housing provision that provides both for those households that cannot afford to house themselves and those who struggle to afford housing in the private market. I believe that working together we can ensure that people have the homes they and their families need, now and for the generations to come.

Deputy O'Brien made a very important point. The housing requirements of the past as regard the demographic profiles, and the housing requirements of now and the future are very different. There is no longer the same requirement for three-bedroom houses given the percentage of people who are single and need housing, and also single with one, two or three children. It is a completely different profile that we always need to monitor.

The strategy will set out a series of actions to compensate for the short to medium-term shortage of supply and I look forward to working with my colleagues in government in achieving the significant Exchequer investment needed. Given supply issues in some areas, reliance on the private rental sector to meet housing need is not sustainable and the Government accepts that the delivery of significant new build is required.

Increasing the public housing stock will have the additional benefit of alleviating pressure on the private market in terms of rents and purchase prices. The strategy will be finalised over the coming weeks with further consultation as required, taking cognisance in particular of the Estimates process. It is proposed that following approval by Government, the final strategy, including a complete action plan and governance arrangements, will be published thereafter.

I now wish to address the criticisms of the rental accommodation scheme made earlier. The RA scheme, RAS, remains one of the principal mechanisms available to local authorities to provide suitable quality accommodation for those in need of housing. Up to the end of June 2014, close to 49,800 households had been transferred by local authorities from rent supplement and housed directly under RAS and other social housing options. RAS has been, and continues to be, a successful programme which has delivered quality housing to a large number of households. However, there are issues.

If the dwelling that the household is living in becomes unavailable through no fault of their own, local authorities, with the co-operation of the tenants, do and will make every effort to source alternative accommodation as quickly as possible. In seeking replacement accommodation a local authority will attempt to source a suitable alternative within or close to the area in which the tenant is residing. However, as we all know, that may not always be possible. Therefore, in all cases, not just where a tenancy is under threat, there is no bar on RAS households from sourcing alternative accommodation themselves, if they so desire.

Mortgage to rent targets the most acute arrears cases where a situation is unsustainable and where there is little or no prospect of a significant change in circumstances in the foreseeable future. There are chronic arrears cases that have been agreed by both the lender and borrower to be unsustainable. Many of these households are desperately seeking solutions, and seeking certainty for themselves. I presume every Member in this House has met such people. In that context under the mortgage-to-rent scheme families remain in their home and pay a rent which is based on their household income. A household with mortgage arrears goes from being a homeowner to becoming a social housing tenant.

To be eligible for the mortgage-to-rent scheme a household must also be eligible for social housing support. Taking on board recent criticism of the length of time it takes for mortgage-to-rent transactions to be completed, my Department directed the Housing Agency to undertake a review of operation of the scheme to devise a more streamlined approach that could be expected to accelerate the movement of cases through the system, which is an absolute priority.

I am confident the changes made on foot of that review will speed up the process and ensure that those availing of this option can have their situation resolved in a timely and satisfactory manner. In a similar vein, I intend to meet senior officials in the banking sector to remove blockages to people accessing the scheme and I will work with some of the debtor-advocate groups that are campaigning for people in severe debt distress. I expect change as a result of all this work, particularly with the aforementioned advocate groups, working with the banking institutions and with the Housing Agency. The Department also introduced in February 2014 on a national basis a mortgage-to-rent scheme for local authority households similar to that in place for private mortgages.

My Department continues to work closely and successfully with the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, the Housing Agency, local authorities and approved housing bodies in the delivery of social housing. NAMA has worked well with my Department and other key stakeholders as partners in the delivery of social housing.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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No, it has not.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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More than 700 social housing units have been delivered to date thanks to this collaboration, and in excess of 1,000 units will have been delivered by the end of this year. I also wish to state that NAMA has made available virtually all of its housing stock to local authorities for social housing. However, not all of it was deemed suitable. Nevertheless, I state confidently that NAMA will become a key engine in social housing delivery as it moves further into the space of construction and development. There will be a substantial social benefit from its housing activities.

The issue of the quality of construction standards is also often raised. Gradually, the Government is coming to grips with dealing with the absolutely dreadful legacies of unfinished estates and poorly built, substandard homes and buildings, with examples being the progress being made under the Priory Hall resolution framework and by the Pyrite Resolution Board, not to mention the resolution of a significant number of unfinished estates, in which very significant progress has been made. In a social housing context, standards are ensured through the application of the building regulations setting out the minimum legally-acceptable standards and the quality housing for sustainable communities policy guidance for local authorities, which ensures that individual homes are designed to be part of a well-planned and well-integrated social environment and thereby become a good place to live. I commit here to overseeing a new era of quality in the construction industry, in which standards are maintained and enforced nationwide and I will be working with the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, in particular on this issue.

I now turn to the private rented sector, which is an important element of the housing market with the proportion of households in this sector almost doubling in the period between 2006 and 2011. I am conscious of the difficulties caused by rising rents and the problem of sourcing suitable accommodation, especially in Dublin, its surrounding conurbation and other urban centres. I absolutely appreciate that people are under immense pressure in this regard. As with many of the problems being experienced in relation to housing, the fundamental reason behind the rise in rents is a lack of supply. Increasing both public and private housing supply is a critical issue for the Government and will be targeted under the Construction 2020 strategy in tandem with its proposed social housing strategy. In addition, the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, was asked recently to conduct a study to explore options to address the difficulties being experienced in segments of the private rented sector due to rising rents. It is due to report back to me shortly with policy recommendations. I understand my officials have already received details of the report. It is the first of two studies on the future of the private rented sector and focuses on options to address the recent escalation in rents, particularly in the Dublin area and surrounding conurbation. I understand it explores a range of issues in regard to rent stability ranging from an examination of rent regulation regimes to the tax treatment of the private rented sector and the role of rent supplement. I welcome it and look forward to reading it. It will require careful consideration, together with colleagues in government, before deciding on the best options to address the current difficulties in the market. However, it will be taken seriously.

I remind Members that the Government's overriding objective is to achieve stability and sustainability in the market for the benefit of tenants and society as a whole. While not wishing to understate the extent of the problems being experienced by certain segments of the private rented sector, on average, rents in Dublin are still 12.7% lower than they were at their peak in the fourth quarter of 2007, while rents nationally are almost 19% lower than their peak in 2007. I acknowledge this does not take away from the substantial problem that must be addressed. Nevertheless, there is no question but that low-income tenants are experiencing difficulties in sourcing affordable rental accommodation and I am committed to looking at all possible solutions that can assist the most vulnerable. However, when considering this report and any proposed measures to assist low-income tenants in meeting their housing costs, including any system of rent regulation, it is crucial that these measures are carefully thought out and targeted to meet the needs of low-income tenants. While I have not seen the report as yet, I am in favour of promoting more long-term tenancy agreements as a way of introducing stability to the market. This type of certainty would be beneficial for both landlords and tenants, which coupled with a deposit protection scheme that I absolutely guarantee will be advanced shortly, will help bring some stability to those reliant on the private rental market. It has been suggested that linking rents to the consumer price index may be the solution to the current problem. However, in looking back at rents over the past decade, had such a system been in place, rents would have been higher in every year than were the prevailing market rents. Rent controls such as those suggested by some Members may hold out the promise of affordable and stable rents but it is essential that the Government explores all the options available to it to address the current difficulties and to ensure its policy decisions are informed decisively. The Government must also ensure that anything it does is constitutionally certain.

There rightly has been a major public focus on issues of homelessness in recent times. Indeed, there is significant pressure on homelessness services at present. Recent figures show there are 127 people sleeping rough in the Dublin region, while there are approximately 150 families residing in hotel accommodation in Dublin. In February 2013, the Government's homelessness policy statement was published, in which the Government's aim to end long-term homelessness by the end of 2016 was outlined. The statement emphasises a housing-led approach that is about accessing permanent housing as the primary response to all forms of homelessness. As this is a matter of the highest priority for the Government, the decision was taken to ring-fence funding for homeless services by the Government in budgets 2013 and 2014 in support of the discharge by local authorities of their statutory role in the provision of accommodation for homeless persons. The availability and supply of secure, affordable and adequate housing is essential in ensuring sustainable tenancies and ending long-term homelessness. In the past two years in Dublin, approximately 1,500people have moved from homeless services to independent living, with necessary supports. This is to be welcomed but must be built upon. The implementation plan for the State's response to homelessness was published in May 2014 and is a practically-focused delivery plan that contains 80 actions which are direct, immediate and solutions-based and which contribute to the delivery of a ring-fenced supply of 2,700 units of accommodation by the end of 2016. This plan was developed by a team of senior officials from my Department, the Department of Social Protection, housing authorities and the Health Service Executive. The implementation of this plan requires and will get a whole-of-Government approach to addressing homelessness. Progress in implementing the plan is reported quarterly through the Cabinet committee on social policy and a copy of the second quarter progress report is available on my Department's website.

On the question of introducing a constitutional right to housing, the Housing Acts govern social housing in Ireland. The range and extent of measures implemented under the Housing Acts demonstrates the State's long-standing commitment to ensuring that housing needs, especially social housing needs are adequately addressed. The inclusion of a legal right to housing in the Constitution has not been pursued to date on the basis that decisions regarding the allocation of financial resources is a matter for the Government and not the Judiciary. The Government considers that the most appropriate way of addressing the rights issue in respect of housing is to continue the various programmes and fiscal incentives currently in place, to secure the necessary level of funding to support them, to review their operation on an ongoing basis to ensure that they are meeting their objectives and to put in place new programmes or measures as required.

As the Government's housing policy statement of 2011 puts it quite succinctly, the Government's vision for the future of the housing sector in Ireland is based on:

choice, fairness, equity across tenures and on delivering quality outcomes for the resources invested. The overall strategic objective will be to enable all households access good quality housing appropriate to household circumstances and in their particular community of choice.

I have endeavoured, through my amendment to the motion, to reassure Deputies of the absolute priority this Government attaches to the issues of housing provision and homelessness and remind them of the range of actions we are taking, and will take into the future, to assist the most vulnerable members of our society. I assure colleagues of my fixed intention, together with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, to address these issues in a timely fashion. We have a plan set out for the coming years to address what is a priority issue for everybody in this House.

Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I begin by acknowledging the seriousness with which the Minister and the Government are dealing with this issue and the multifaceted approach that is being taken. The Minister has set out the range of measures to be taken, some of which have already been implemented. However, problems remain. In the time available to me, I will focus on a particular aspect of housing, namely, the role played by the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, in the sector.

NAMA is one of the largest property companies in the world and has a major bearing on the recovery of the property market and construction sector in this country via the manner in which it does its business. The Minister indicated that housing units have been identified by the agency and are in the process of being transferred to local authorities to form part of their social housing stock. I welcome that as part of alleviating the shortage of housing. However, as NAMA embarks upon its major plan to construct residential and commercial units, we must have clarification as to what empirical evaluation of market demand has been conducted. It is not so long ago that all the talk was of an oversupply of houses, with suggestions that properties at various locations would have to be torn down. That seems incredible now. We must be sure we are building the right properties in the right areas at the right time.

Earlier today, representatives of the not-for-profit think thank, Property Industry Ireland, appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht to discuss issues pertaining to supply and demand in both the residential and commercial property markets. While the witnesses welcomed the Government strategy set out in Construction 2020, they pointed out that there is often a gap in the property market data available to Government and other stakeholders which can result in issues in the market being pursued in a vacuum. For example, the Central Statistics Office will publish house price data tomorrow which will refer only to properties purchased using a mortgage. Information on cash transactions, which now account for 50% of all house purchases, will not be included. We have had no further data from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government since it released information last February on the number of commencement notices for new developments received by local authorities. These examples illustrate the gaps in information, which is something the Minister might address in due course.

We need to know what strategies NAMA intends to pursue to ensure a steady stream of supply of new housing units to the market on a yearly basis, which shovel-ready landbanks for development belonging to developers it has under its control, and to what extent such developers are either being assisted or impeded in developing those sites. Has NAMA been restricting supply and, if so, how has this contributed to the property bubble now arising in Dublin and other parts of the country? Of course, if right were right and we were heading back to what could be classed as normal in the construction industry, the business of developing and finance would be a matter between banks and builders. The banks, however, have no money to lend to builders and, instead of that issue being sorted out, NAMA is embarking upon development with no track record in this regard.

Of particular concern in all of this is NAMA's treatment of developers, the very people who have the expertise and experience to deliver the massive housing projects we desperately need to address our housing and homelessness crisis. What is happening, however, is that NAMA is bringing many of these developers to their knees. In its strategic review, the agency admits that at this stage, it is now having to deal with debtor fatigue, that is, cases where developers are so fed up and worn out from dealing with the State body that they are opting for insolvency or bankruptcy. It says a great deal about NAMA that many of these developers are running into the arms of vulture funds and taking their chances with the future of their businesses and livelihoods. It must be pretty terrible for these developers in NAMA.

Mr. Justice Brian Cregan's High Court judgment in the Flynn case was a damning indictment of NAMA. He ruled that the State agency had acted unfairly and unlawfully in calling in loans of €22 million from property developer John Flynn and his family. This case raises serious issues of concern as to how NAMA conducts its business. Mr. Flynn has been reported as likening the workings of the agency to goings on in North Korea. In other words, developers under NAMA had better keep their mouths shut. I have raised on several occasions the need for an Oireachtas oversight committee to bring more transparency to the way in which NAMA does its business. In fact, such was envisaged when the legislation establishing the agency was introduced by the then Minister for Finance, the late Brian Lenihan. I urge that this oversight committee be put in place. In the interim, as I have suggested on several occasions, including in the wake of the Flynn judgment, these developers should be brought before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform to give their side of the story. We cannot afford not to listen to what they have to say and learn from it as we seek to avoid another housing bubble and ensure every citizen of this country has a home.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to share time with Deputy Barry Cowen.

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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That is agreed.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I support the motion before the House. My party has been very strong on the importance of developing a strong social and private housing sector. Our spokesperson, Deputy Cowen, launched a policy document earlier this year which stated clearly that every citizen has a right to a home and there must be an all-out effort to tackle the spiralling waiting lists in social housing and the supply shortage in the private sector. We are falling way behind on the estimated 25,000 units needed per annum. We hope the Government will, as the Minister has undertaken to do, implement a new home building programme through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, transfer National Asset Management Agency units into social housing, develop housing associations and encourage sustainable levels of construction.

There is a serious issue of homelessness in this country, which I raised by way of a Topical Issue matter only last week. I emphasised during that debate that this problem is not unique to Dublin, although it is very serious there, and there are a range of proposals from different sources to tackle it. COPE Galway, for instance, has proposed an allocation of €500 million for the social housing building programme, with a portion of that ring-fenced to tackle homelessness, particularly in the context of the 2016 Government target to eliminate long-term homelessness and the need to help people who are sleeping rough. I also referred to the proposal from Dublin City Council that prefabricated buildings be installed on derelict or vacant sites to house homeless families. There has been significant opposition to that proposal, largely because most people would favour permanent housing for families. The Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, has spoken about refurbishing housing, particularly vacant units in Dublin. I hope the Government will give serious consideration to these options. The chief executive officer of ALONE has indicated that 25% of calls to that organisation related to the housing needs of older people. It is a measure of the seriousness of the problem that more 4,700 older people in this country are in need of housing.

We now have a situation where 156 families, including 341 children, are living in Dublin hotels. Brother Kevin Crowley, founder of the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People, has warned of the urgent need for emergency accommodation in the city. He pointed to the cessation of the night bus service, the provision for which included ring-fenced accommodation. I hope the very vulnerable people to whom Brother Kevin referred will not be pushed to the bottom when it comes to dealing with the housing crisis. Every effort must be made to identify housing solutions that could meet their needs.

Several speakers referred to NAMA's role in addressing the housing shortage. It would be an important step in the right direction if every local authority were to establish a dedicated NAMA transfer unit. There has certainly been a shortfall in terms of what was expected from NAMA in this regard. It would be most welcome if more of its properties could be made available. A proposal by the leader of the Green Party, Eamon Ryan, regarding the use of timber-framed housing would offer a speedy way of providing comfortable and warm accommodation in a sustainable way.

It is a cause for serious concern that the chief executive of the Merchant's Quay Project observed recently that homelessness in our society was becoming acceptable.

NAMA is one of the largest property companies in the world and has a major bearing on the recovery of the property market and construction sector by the manner in which it does its business. I understand the agency is working with local authorities, and the Minister referred to housing units that are in the process of being transferred to local aurh

It is frightening and worrying if we are going to throw our hands in the air and not tackle the situation. COPE Galway is saying that about 112 families, including 246 children, are either homless or at risk of homelessness. In Galway city, where people are waiting ten to 12 years for houses, we must act quickly to ensure their concerns are dealt with.

The Department of Social Protection has a policy of setting maximum rent levels under the rent supplement scheme. It is not based on a review of average rent levels but rather on a view that households on rent supplement should be restricted to the lower end of the rental market. The current review plans to push such households deeper into the bottom end of the market. There is no good reason it should be related to the proportion of the total rental market occupied by households on rent supplement and I hope that will be looked at. Over the past six years, we have attempted to drive down the cost of rent supplement but Government policy has undermined the rent supplement system, so it is no longer reliably providing households with the capacity to sustain their homes.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I commend my colleagues in Sinn Féin for putting forward this motion and assure them of my party's support for its content. I do so out of respect for the representations it is receiving, no more than ourselves, in this area and I do so also not seeking to question the good faith of that motion. I refer to a point made by some of the Sínn Féin Deputies last week when I brought a Bill forward in Private Members' business. They could not help themselves but to question the bona fides of my party in bringing forward that Bill. It was unfortunate that they should do that because we were all elected with the same mandate, namely, to represent those who give us the privilege to do so. Some of us are given the added responsibility on behalf of our parties to speak on and hold the Government to account in various areas.

I notice the Minister, Deputy Kelly, has left the House. He had a lot to say about those of us who were not here when he got up to speak initially. Thankfully, his speech has been provided to us so we can scrutinise it in our own way. What I and others have to say is a matter of public record. I noted that the Minister could not begin to comment in this debate without referring to his belief, and that of many of his colleagues, that the fault for the predicament which we are in lies with previous Governments, in particular Fianna Fáil-led ones, three and a half years after this Government was elected to office and having given commitments to address this issue among many others. However, that sort of rhetoric and campaigning fell on deaf ears last May and if the Minister continues in that vein, I have no doubt the Labour Party will face similar decimation, and rightly so if that is the sort of politics we can look forward to.

Construction 2020, to which the Minister alluded, rightly recognises one thing, namely, that supply is the answer to the existing crisis. It refers to the potential for 75 different actions to address it. I do not think there is any great need to get into the depth of those actions. A colleague of mine spoke on Leaders' Questions earlier today and put a solution of one action to the Minister for Finance and that was that €1 billion from the National Pensions Reserve Fund be put into a strategic fund and be used to launch a new round of home building across the country. The Government talks about affordability to provide that sort of funding but it was not too shy to raid the National Pensions Reserve Fund when it came to the setting up of Irish Water and to the provision in the State of the new super-quango which is Irish Water. Some €500 million was taken initially for that purpose. Up to €180 million was taken for its start-up cost. We were promised last year that the funds from the local property tax would be available to those who paid it in the areas in which they reside by virtue of the services provided by local authorities but that too was raided and people were sold a pup again. Some €500 million was taken from that source. Those were two avenues of funding which could have been used to address this issue.

Despite the progress being made by virtue of the sort of policies being pursued and that this Government voted against on numerous occasions prior to taking office, it now wants to take the credit for the marvellous figures which exist on a macro basis, based on the balance sheet and so forth. We recognise and acknowledge that those indictors are positive and that without them, we could not look forward to the sort of recovery we would all like to see happen and wish people to become part of because they are not part of it now. Without those indicators, they would have no hope and we acknowledge that. However, it means nothing when one thinks of this crisis.

I started by acknowledging the representations members of the Sinn Féin party are receiving, no more than myself and members of Government parties. It is the predominant representation a Deputy will hear at his or her clinic. The provision of housing is at crisis levels and the figures prove it as does the inaction by Government over the past three and a half years. The mantra was always that the funding model was not available in these straitened times and there was no means by which the Government could generate the sort of revenue required to fund a building programme to address this issue.

Last year we built only 8,000 private and public homes but 25,000 are needed. The crisis is deepening but all the Government can say is that it can do nothing because Fianna Fáil led us down this road and that it will take another term of office to address the issue. The only thing that jumped out of the Minister's speech, apart from repeating much of what was said in this House before by previous Ministers, was that his absolute priority is to produce a plan. He is three and a half years in government and he thinks that because he is in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government three months, he has the authority to spend the next 18 months producing a plan on which he thinks he will be re-elected. Give me a break is the answer to that.

My colleague, Deputy Kitt, referred to some policy indicators we gave prior to the local elections and which I have repeated on many occasions during Question Time with the previous Ministers, Phil Hogan, and the then Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. I will not waste time or paper outlining 75 actions but will outline four or five which I have done before but which have fallen on deaf ears. I will repeat them in the hope somebody might take notice. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, wherever he is, whether sitting having a cup of tea or in his office, slagged me off for not being here at the start of his speech but saw fit to leave the House himself. However, he can check the record as to our proposals. His colleagues should have given them to him many months ago. He should set up a fund to launch a new round of home building across the country. He should develop voluntary housing associations to a scale where they can access credit and start to build. He can use the tenant purchase schemes to fund future investment and repair works by local authorities. He should also allow families on waiting lists to be given the opportunity to move into accommodation which, according to the authorities, is not fit for occupation but which they and their extended families can make fit for purpose and let the rent reflect that thereafter.

I have heard the talk about NAMA month after month since this Government took office and of getting 2,000 units from NAMA each year. We should have got 7,000 units by now but how many have we? The Minister thinks we should stand up and applaud him for getting 700 units. Where is the social dividend in that?

Where is the leadership required from the Government to extract the social dividend that the people deserve? I asked for a dedicated team to be established in each local authority to deal specifically NAMA. That might allow us to see more than the meagre 30 units negotiated at the Church Hill development in Tullamore, which are long overdue. The Minister spoke about the funding being provided for adapting houses for older persons and the disabled. In my county, up to 70 people have made representations to me because they are in dire need of funds to adapt their houses to meet medical or age related needs. The letters they receive from the local authority tell them there is no funding to do this work and that they need not reapply or ask the same questions on the scheme for another three to five years. That is a reflection of this Government's inaction in housing policy. Unfortunately, many of the people who are being told to wait three to five years will be in the cemetery when the letter of approval arrives.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuil an t-ábhar seo á phlé againn anocht mar tá sé uafásach in 2014 go bhfuil daoine sa tír seo gan teach.

Mr. Y is in position No. 68 on the housing list. Mr. and Mrs. X are in position No. 123. Ms Y, who is need of two-bedroom accommodation, is in position No. 288 and Mr. Z is in position No. 760, on band three of the housing list. These are the replies to queries from people in need of housing which I am getting daily from Dublin City Council. There is a housing crisis. We know there is insufficient housing stock, that rents in the private sector are spiralling and that, for various reasons, landlords are taking back properties that used to be available for rent. There are also too many voids in Dublin Central. It is unacceptable that so many flats and houses are lying vacant. The costs incurred in boarding them up and in dealing with the anti-social behaviour they attract could go instead into releasing them. If I want to put a new kitchen into my house, decorate a room or build an extension, I can get quotes immediately, and if I have the money I will have a builder who can start the work within a few days and complete it in a timeframe of several weeks. Why can we not invest the same kind of urgency and money in local authorities in order that voids can be renovated and made fit for people to inhabit?

In regard to rent allowance, the rents people were paying were far too high for the accommodation they received but instead of putting caps on the rents that landlords could charge, there was a decrease in the rent allowance. Individuals and families who paid rent to private landlords for several years are facing homelessness because the landlords decided to increase the rent. This aspect of the housing situation is not being addressed.

We are told that the economy is moving out of deep recession but the Simon Community, Focus Ireland and Dublin City Council's homeless section report that sections of society are in dire circumstances. There is a commitment to end long-term homelessness by 2016 but I cannot see it being met. In the north inner city, poor housing standards are compounded by illegal dumping and poor waste management and collection.

Rent allowance has to be increased. It is a short-term measure but it would certainly help. Homeless budgets have to be maintained. Brother Kevin in the Capuchin Centre has pointed out that it costs €1.9 million to feed the people who attend its services. He receives €350,000 from Dublin City Council and €100,000 from the HSE. One practical step would be to increase his funding. Fr. Peter McVerry and Brother Kevin were recently given freedom of the city of Dublin. Both individuals are passionate about homelessness but we are only paying lip service to dealing with it if the people are not being supported.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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I support the motion, which continues the debate we have held over recent months. On 6 May, the Technical Group used Private Members' business to debate the issue of housing and homelessness because we believed the Government was not serious in its approach or in recognising the crisis that people in our constituencies are facing. The coalition Government has belatedly come to accept the seriousness of the crisis in housing. While accepting the crisis in words, its actions, however, fall far short of what is required. Tinkering around the edges of the problem and continuing to rely on private sector landlords and developers to supply people with affordable housing is not a solution.

The new housing assistance payment, which will replace the rental allowance from next year, was generally welcomed. People receiving the new payment will be able to work while continuing to claim the allowance. However, it was pointed out in this debate that it potentially means recipients can be deemed to have had their housing needs addressed. The Minister spoke about transfers but that is only going to cause further problems.

The rental accommodation scheme is a disaster. In Dublin South Central, people cannot find RAS accommodation and others are losing their RAS accommodation as landlords sell their houses or the banks repossess them. They have nowhere to go other than private rented accommodation. They are told they will be first on the list to get RAS accommodation if it becomes available but landlords are not buying into the scheme.

The private rented sector was encouraged by section 23 breaks to increase its share of housing in Dublin from 19% in 2006 to 32% in 2011. Apart from being unable to provide people with decent housing at affordable rents, the reliance on the private sector and market forces brought about a banking collapse which sent the country to the brink of ruin. More than 90,000 households are in need of social housing which does not exist. Approximately 100,000 households are in mortgage arrears and another 100,000 are renting in an uncontrolled private rented sector without security of tenure and threatened by rent increases. In the past day, I have dealt with two young families who were threatened with eviction because the bank has taken over their homes and they are being forced to look outside Dublin for accommodation. This is a serious issue. Young families are being forced to take their children out of schools. I do not care what agency is established to provide the money but we know €3 billion is needed to build a minimum of 20,000 houses in the next one to two years if we are to solve the crisis.