Dáil debates

Wednesday, 10 December 2014

10:50 am

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I thank the House for providing me with this opportunity to update Deputies on the further actions we are taking to address the issue of homelessness. I assure Deputies of the commitment of my Government colleagues to taking on the issue in a focused and co-ordinated way. I commend and thank politicians on all sides and political persuasions for the manner in which they have worked with me over the recent period on this issue. I appreciate their co-operation, which goes beyond politics, and commend everyone on their contributions and co-operation over the past number of weeks.

Last week, my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, and I convened a special forum on homelessness. We met with the Catholic and Church of Ireland Archbishops of Dublin, Deputies from this House, officials and politicians from the Dublin local authorities, a vast number of people from the NGO sector involved in the delivery of homeless services and officials from a range of Departments and State agencies. I want to express my appreciation and gratitude to all of those who attended and contributed. It was an excellent forum and we all learned a significant amount about the issue in a collaborative way and we will be stronger as a result.

I have often said that nobody has a monopoly on solutions to homelessness and this was proved at the forum, where new measures were proposed, immediate responses were identified and additional resources were committed. At the end of the forum, I was well placed to outline some of the measures identified and a roadmap of the next steps we need to take. Since then, I have worked with all the stakeholders involved to develop and implement the action plan on homelessness approved by the Government on Tuesday.

Yesterday, the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, and I announced details of the Government’s 20-point action plan to address homelessness and a copy of this plan is available on my Department's website. The plan commits to €20 million plus in additional expenditure and includes the immediate provision of over 260 additional emergency beds for people sleeping rough in Dublin, a "Nite Café" to provide a contact point for homeless people who do not want to be placed in emergency accommodation and the provision of transport with support services to bring people sleeping rough to emergency accommodation where they will be cared for and provided with the health and care supports they need. A number of measures have been identified and will be put in place in other cities and urban areas also. We are aware this issue is not confined to Dublin, although there is an acute issue there.

I acknowledge the efforts by all who are making properties and beds available to meet the urgent need. Some of these 260 beds are already in place while works are being carried out to other properties to ensure that all beds will be available before Christmas.

While every effort is being made to provide beds, the provision of emergency accommodation is not a viable long-term solution to homelessness. The Government’s homelessness policy statement emphasises a housing-led approach to homelessness, which is about providing permanent housing as the primary response to homelessness. This approach is also articulated in the Government's implementation plan on the State's response to homelessness. Increasing the supply of housing is critical to addressing housing need and homelessness. This will be achieved through the Government’s construction 2020 plan and the Government's six year social housing strategy which I recently launched. This strategy will deliver in excess of 35,000 new social housing units over a six year period. There is also a significant programme of work identified and committed to for the period to the end of 2016 under the Government’s implementation plan on the State’s response to homelessness.

In the short term, however, it is essential to increase the volume of housing supply that is being made available to homeless households. Therefore, I will issue a direction to the four Dublin housing authorities to allocate 50% of all housing allocations to homeless households and other vulnerable groups for the next six months, taking account of the time spent by these households on the homeless and other housing lists as at 1 December 2014.

It is worth noting that funding, which is being provided through my Department, will result in a significant number of vacant local authority properties being brought back into productive use. In addition, I will sign regulations next week to provide for the new housing assistance payment to be rolled out in the Dublin region on a pilot basis and this is specifically focused on homeless households. This pilot will ensure that homeless households in the Dublin region can access accommodation in the private housing market. These three measures will have a significant positive impact on the homeless households on the Dublin local authorities’ homeless and housing waiting lists.

Prevention is an important aspect in the response to homelessness. The prevention campaign launched by Dublin City Council last June has been very successful in stemming the flow of families becoming homeless and in assisting families and others in dealing with private rented accommodation issues. The interim tenancy sustainment protocol involving the Department of Social Protection, the Dublin local authorities and Threshold has made significant interventions on behalf of families at risk of homelessness. This has made a difference and will continue. I fully support this excellent initiative. A "Stay in your Home" campaign will be put in place to raise further awareness of tenants' rights and ensure that families and other individuals at risk of losing their tenancies will be assisted to stay in their homes. The support service currently operated by Threshold in Dublin will be provided with additional staff this week and the service will be extended to Cork imminently.

Homelessness is not just a Dublin issue but it is most acute in the Dublin region. We will respond on issues in other cities and urban areas also. Housing authorities in our other cities are urgently assessing the scale of action they need to take and we are in touch with them constantly. However, homelessness is not just about accommodation. A number of other responses must also be implemented to ensure that the necessary supports are in place for households whose accommodation needs have been met.

The integrated services hub, which currently provides a one-stop shop service for homeless persons in the Dublin region, will further develop its case management model with the Department of Social Protection to include income support and job activation measures. I was in Parkgate Street yesterday and I saw at first hand the excellent model of collaboration involving the State and non-State sector in assisting clients who are homeless or facing homelessness as they grapple with the difficult situation they find themselves in. I would encourage and would accompany Opposition spokesperson on this issue to visit and see the worthwhile work going on there.

Homeless families are of particular concern to me and my colleagues. Their situation is not acceptable. Our agencies, charged with responsibilities for child protection and welfare needs and others, must co-ordinate operations to ensure that services are fully responsive to the particular protection and welfare needs that might arise for families in emergency accommodation.

The special forum shone a spotlight on how we co-ordinate our services, both in terms of housing supply and our health and care supports. In this regard, the HSE plays a key role and co-ordination of health services for the homeless will be co-ordinated at senior management level in the Dublin region from 15 December. Specialist consultant-led mental health and primary care services will be streamlined in quarter one of 2015 to ensure in-reach services into all emergency accommodation settings across the Dublin region. This will make it easier for homeless people to access the services, as service providers will come to them rather than the other way around. The HSE will also put in place a formal discharge protocol with Dublin hospitals and homeless services to ensure that, as far as possible, no patient will be discharged into homelessness. This will be operational early in the new year.

The purpose of last week’s forum on homelessness was to step outside of the current response and implementation models to see what could be done in the immediate short term. I believe there is an opportunity for our businesses and companies – large, medium and small – to get involved as well and to focus their corporate social responsibility programmes on responding to this issue.

11 o’clock

I am open to any offers that anybody wishes to come forward with and will listen to them very carefully.

Together with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, I have stressed the need for collaborative action by Departments, State agencies, NGOs and the wider voluntary sector. That is the spirit with which we approached the forum and which runs through the action plan I have announced. We brought together all stakeholders involved in this issue on a policy and operational basis. We asked them for their views, what needed to be done and to come forward with real and tangible contributions to a solution. The Government has not been found wanting.

In addition to the €55 million allocated for tackling homelessness nationally in 2015, we approved a further €20 million for an urgent targeted action plan to tackle rough sleeping in Dublin and throughout the country, and to provide everyone who needs emergency overnight accommodation with it before Christmas. Anyone who is sleeping rough will have accommodation if he or she wishes to choose it. We will also provide other services to ensure that everyone's dignity can be maintained, such as the Nite Café and transport services, to ensure people have options and do not feel that if they turn down accommodation, they have nowhere else to go. The Nite Café is an important initiative, given the fact that it can hold more than 50 people. It is a step in the direction I feel is necessary given the circumstances and complex issues of many people who are homeless and sleeping rough.

A comprehensive and effective response to homelessness is an obligation shared by all in the House. I have said that on previous occasions. I compliment and thank everyone who has made a contribution, including Members opposite. It goes beyond any action by the Government and its agencies. It is an obligation on all of us in our communities and as individuals. In our communities we must be prepared to reach out a hand to each homeless person and not to shun him or her on the other side of the street.

I ask communities and public representatives everywhere to accept and work with the emergency solutions we are putting in place. This is above and beyond political thought and the usual day-to-day raggle-taggle of political discussion in the House. This is a very human issue. It is about people's dignity, putting together a quick plan to back up the homeless action plan which is in place and backing up the social housing strategy.

These are not just people who are homeless. Only for a quirk of fate, any of us in the House or any of our families could be in the same situation. They are fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, and are all part of a family. I ask all of us to engage with that sense of responsibility and respect people's dignity. I am willing to work with everybody inside and outside of the House to ensure that we deliver the best service possible to these very vulnerable people.

11:00 am

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to share time with Deputy Barry Cowen.

Photo of Olivia MitchellOlivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Deputy Cowen has published a policy document on housing. One of the points we have made consistently in this House is the fact that we are falling way behind in regard to the number of housing units we need to build per year. We have raised the issue of homelessness on many occasions, and I submitted a Topical Issue matter on it last September. Dublin is always quoted as a very serious issue, but it is not the only part of the country which has serious housing problems. There are a range of proposals, some of which the Minister has referred to, from different sources to tackle these issues.

COPE in County Galway was one of the first organisations to propose an allocation of €500 million for the social housing building programme. It wanted a portion of the funding ring-fenced for homelessness, in particular for the Government proposal to eliminate long-term homelessness and the need to help people who are sleeping rough, and for this to be done by 2016. This week I read in local newspapers that while COPE welcomed the funding, it emphasised the short-term situation and the need to deal with the issue of people who need help immediately, not in two or three years' time.

The death of Jonathan Corrie showed all of us the scale of the challenge we face. There have been social welfare cuts and rents have escalated, in particular in Dublin, which has led to people becoming homeless. I refer in particular to older people. The CEO of ALONE indicated that 25% of the calls to his organisation related to housing need for older people. It is a measure of the seriousness of the situation that more than 4,700 older people in this country are in need of housing. It is just one aspect of the issue.

I know from colleagues and people I have met that entire families are now living in hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation and hostels in Dublin. I found it interesting that Brother Kevin Crowley, founder of the Capuchin Day Centre for homeless people, talked about the urgent need for emergency accommodation in the city and the cessation of the night bus service. Will the Minister refer to that in his conclusion? The night bus service was very important, as Brother Crowley pointed out, and there was provision to include the ring-fencing of money for accommodation. I hope the very vulnerable people to whom he referred will not be pushed to the bottom of the housing list when it comes to dealing with the housing crisis.

The Simon Community has put together a ten-point plan. It referred to the long-term plan under the social housing strategy and the current homeless crisis, in particular the private rented sector and rent supplement. It is concerned about the strategy, which involves 75,000 households being provided for in the private rented sector, and about the capacity in the private rented sector to deliver on that. It made the point that prevention and early intervention services are important but are also very expensive. I appreciate that and I am sure the Minister knows that.

The situation regarding NAMA properties and the approved housing bodies is always used as an example of what we could do to increase the supply of housing. I suggested during the previous debate that every local authority should have a dedicated NAMA transfer unit. We were told two years ago that 2,000 housing units could be made available through NAMA for people on the social housing waiting lists, but this has not happened. In fact, large numbers of apartments have been sold by NAMA to developers.

In the case of approved public bodies, there is an issue in terms of trying to get finance through the capital assistance schemes to provide houses. The Simon Community is correct when it states that the private rental sector is imploding, rents are rising and the number of properties available is reducing. In a recent RTE television programme, "Through the Roof", comments about it being a good time to be a landlord and a sad comment that single people would not even bother asking where they were on the housing lists were made. The issues of housing, mental health and drugs are not being linked by the Government.

The Minister referred to the Nite Café, which I welcome, but people like Father Peter McVerry have spoken about restorative practices to tackle the problems and to try to deal with situations where relations have broken down and people feel they had to leave home. I welcome the debate. We have a lot of issues to deal with and I hope we can make progress because we all know the seriousness of the situation. The problem is not just about Christmas. A long-term approach is needed.

Photo of Barry CowenBarry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I, like the previous speaker, welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues. I thank the Minister for the manner in which he responded to the crisis which existed last week on foot of the unfortunate death of Jonathan Corrie. I pay tribute to the stakeholders who engaged with the Minister and his staff, and to Archbishop Martin who was quick out of the traps and showed some leadership on this issue when he made available a property and initiated the forum which ensued. I welcome what has come from that, the programme announced by the Minister and what is contained within it. The fact that he has reacted accordingly and listened to many of the initiatives proposed during the course of events over the past week is welcome.

It is unfortunate that it took the death of a homeless person to lead to this. There has been a failure by Government to address the issue and to end homelessness.

The one issue that has failed to be addressed and that I ask the Minister to revisit is that of rental assistance. It will be necessary on a temporary basis to give consideration to the subjects of rent caps and rent allowance to address the crisis that exists at present and the numbers of people who find themselves in the position whereby they cannot meet the commitments being asked of them in the marketplace. This call emanates both from my party and from many other parties in opposition and from many of the stakeholders the Minister met last week, which have made the same point. To deal with the situation in a temporary manner and in the absence of the measures announced in the strategy coming into effect, it will be important that the Minister makes every effort to deal with the issue in the short term. In time, there may be an option to reduce that thereafter.

Another issue I will mention is the failure on the part of NAMA to provide the sort of social dividend that was predicted by that body and the Government in this regard. In any debates that have taken place over the past two to three years, the Minister of State with responsibility in this regard, of whom there have been three, has always given the commitment that up to 2,000 or 3,000 units would accrue to the State as a social dividend. This has not happened and the State has been lucky to get between 400 and 500 units since the process began. This is in no way reflective of the needs that exist and I ask the Minister to consider the prospect of each local authority having a dedicated unit to deal with this issue to garner the type of dividend that had been envisaged and some success might ensue from so doing.

Overall, it is important to acknowledge the effort and commitment by the Minister and his Department to react to the crisis, unfortunate as were the circumstances that provided the opportunity to so do. Nonetheless, one must recognise the effort and commitment, as well as the €20 million. I also ask the Minister to consider rolling out a similar effort and programme in other cities and throughout the local authority network. Various stakeholders, such as Simon Communities Ireland, for example, have a mechanism in place to deal with homelessness in the midlands and other regions nationwide. It is important that the Minister carries on the progress that has been evident over the past week in other regions to ascertain whether the same effort and commitment can be given to those areas to meet the immediacy of the problem that is obvious on the ground. The programme and strategy announced by the Minister last week was late in coming to the table but Members must acknowledge its presence and that there is a commitment to expend considerable funds. Aligned to that programme and strategy, I hope to see in the coming weeks and months a programme coming from each local authority that will be ready to meet the demands of that strategy and how it might be reflected in those areas. In addition, a roadmap should be put in place for effective delivery of units because obviously, housing units are what will solve this problem. However, I acknowledge the immediacy that existed and the problems that were there, as well as the effort by the Government to address that. As I stated, it would be well received were the Minister to make the same commitment to other regions and cities and in parallel, were the local authorities and the Minister to work in tandem and allow Members to see there is a prospect of delivering units throughout the country and that they could see that effort in tangible form.

11:10 am

Photo of Dessie EllisDessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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At the recent summit with the Minister, Deputy Kelly, the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, officials, managers of local authorities and politicians, Sinn Féin outlined that an immediate response and provision of emergency accommodation was essential. My party also outlined how it envisaged this issue could be tackled and put forward a number of suggestions. Sinn Féin did not want the forum to be a talking shop but also wished to make clear why homelessness was now such a big problem and that longer-term and short-term solutions were needed urgently. My party outlined that the haemorrhaging of people from the rent supplement scheme and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, needed to be stopped. Sinn Féin also noted the cases of many people who have lost their homes or are under the threat of losing their homes due to their landlords' mortgage difficulties, as well as people with distressed mortgages who have been obliged to give up their homes or have had them repossessed.

Much of this problem comes down to rent rates, which clearly are too high. Although demand can usually push a product to a price ceiling above which no one will pay for it, housing is different and landlords have shown an unwillingness to set fair rents for their tenants and are even leaving residences idle because no one possibly could afford the rates being asked. If one looks on Daft.ie right now, modest flats and houses are going up in price by the hundreds. The Government has a responsibility to protect tenants and ensure the market is reasonable and fair. That is why Sinn Féin has ardently demanded rent controls both within and between tenancies. These are not rent freezes or rent caps per se. They are simply regulations that ensure the rent being charged on accommodation reflects the quality of that accommodation and is affordable now and in the longer term. Deputy Rabbitte recently stated he believed it was necessary as an emergency measure and Fr. Peter McVerry has also stated it is needed. Focus Ireland and Threshold also have weighed in with their support. Opposition to this measure does not truly take into account the human cost of allowing things to continue as they are.

However, we also have a crisis in emergency accommodation right now that can only be solved by providing more places immediately. Sinn Féin has been telling the Government for years that the bodies providing these beds are at bursting point and are operating at capacity. They also have been making this point and things have only got worse. Part of this is down to the Government's failure to move people out of homelessness and emergency accommodation into housing. Emergency accommodation must be truly for an emergency and real housing must be provided for those people who have been in emergency accommodation for an extended period. Otherwise, the personal problems that homelessness causes only deepen and others who need emergency accommodation must go without.

I welcome the announcement of 260 extra beds in Dublin by Christmas, which is late in coming but is necessary. The night café is also a welcome initiative for those who do not want to be in hostels but need support. I note also that 50% of housing allocations in Dublin for the next six months will be focused on people in homelessness but how much does that actually represent? The Government has a miserable record on delivering housing. People are waiting for years to be allocated homes and are living in terrible conditions. How many people actually will be allocated homes in Dublin in the next six months? In addition, while this plan sounds good, what of the people who have been on the housing list for ages and are in bad accommodation they can no longer afford? These will be the new homeless and the Minister might well just create a vicious cycle in which some are housed while others are forced out of housing. The local authorities have medical priorities, welfare priorities and other priorities, many of which involve people who have been waiting for several years. What does the direction to the local authorities mean? Does the Minister have the powers to direct local authorities to devote 50% of the allocation to homelessness?

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Yes.

Photo of Dessie EllisDessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Local authorities have a scheme of letting that is signed off by councillors and is in place. That is the question I wished to ask the Minister.

The key is that tenants must be protected and emergency accommodation must be provided. Housing must be provided for those in emergency accommodation and for those on social housing lists and all such provision must be continued into the future. The Government thus far has failed to do all of these things and that is why we are in this crisis. The Government has failed to dedicate itself to real housing solutions and instead has relied on the private market. The only way to end homelessness is with Government action in the provision of housing because, otherwise, Members will be here again and again.

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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First, I acknowledge the Minister's response to the recent tragedy and his announcement the other day certainly is welcome. All sides in this Chamber are willing to work with him as the Minister with responsibility to try to resolve this issue once and for all.

Homelessness is multifaceted. One is dealing with families who have lost their homes through the economic crash, people with mental health issues and people with drug addiction so no one solution will fit everyone. I want to focus on one cohort of people, namely, people who suffer from drug addiction, because it is very close to my heart. I know heroin addicts who have worked extremely hard to get their lives back on track, gone to rehab, left their families, made tough decisions on a personal level to get clean and to come off methadone or prescription drugs and spent three months in a rehab centre in Carlow with no contact with the outside world. I know a person who came out of that centre feeling energised and that he had got his life back. He wanted that helping hand to get back on the right track to try and make a positive contribution to society. The first issue he faced when he came out of that rehab centre clean after having been on heroin for a number of years was the fact that he had nowhere to live. He ended up going back into a homeless shelter - emergency accommodation - where the temptation of drugs was under his nose every day. Despite that, he battled on and was able to get rent allowance because he was registered as homeless. He went looking for a property to rent. We should remember that this is a man who is in a very fragile state of mind and has just kicked a very serious addiction. He needed those supports and persons to help him through that difficult period. He needed them to be close to him. He could not find accommodation to fit the rent allowance. It was impossible to find it so he had no choice but to stay in the homeless shelter. Eventually, he found accommodation that came under the rent allowance limits but this was 30 miles away from his case worker and the treatment centre he needed to attend daily so he was left with a decision. He either stays where he is and faces the temptation of drugs every day while trying to resist that temptation and regain the social skills he needs to get back on a normal footing or he moves 30 miles away from the very people he needs to support him. Those are the tough decisions that people who are coming out of addiction face.

While the €20 million and the extra emergency bends are very welcome, we need to go further in the longer term. We need to ensure that people who come out of rehab centres and who are trying to get their lives back on track have suitable and affordable accommodation available to them. That is not happening. Rents are running away from people. The rent allowance people get is not sufficient. Until we deal with that, which is the one glaring omission from the Minister's 20 point plan, people will face those tough choices - either take accommodation that they can afford 20 miles away from their key workers and the supports they need to help them stay off drugs or leave themselves in a position where they must remain in a homeless shelter where those temptations are there every day.

I ask the Minister to look at that. I know he cannot do everything at once and as I said, everything he has done is welcome but there are real challenges facing people. It is not just about putting a roof over their heads. We are talking about people who are very fragile, whether it is through mental health problems or drug addiction. As I said, it is an issue that is very close to my heart. My own sibling is one of those individuals and he faces that battle every day. Unless we deal with it, it will be a tragedy for my family and it is not something I want. I plead with the Minister to look at those issues in the longer term.

11:20 am

Photo of Michael FitzmauriceMichael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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Like everybody else, I believe the moves the Minister made last week must be welcomed. It is a step in the right direction. There was a lot of focus on homelessness last week. For some people, having ten or 20 houses would not solve the underlying problem. Having experienced somebody belonging to me coming through a situation like this, I know that the underlying problems that must be addressed. There is a general acceptance in this country of a drinking culture. When one tries to help someone, barriers are put in front of one every way one tries to do it. I am firm believer that when somebody has a genuine problem that needs to be addressed and if two or three doctors are prepared to put it on the line that there is a major problem, we must take action. I am a firm believer that people must be put on courses whether they like it or not. They talk about skid row and I understand all that but if we do not start to address that problem, there will be more of what happened last week. I know civil liberties groups will say that people are entitled to this, that and the other but sometimes in the best interests of a person, one needs to be cruel to be kind.

There are 80,000 people looking for houses. If one looks at people in arrears, one can see that there are approximately 37,000 more. Last week in the west of Ireland, 380 letters went out for repossession orders. We can bury our heads in the sand as long as we want but the reality is that another 20,000 people are about to lose their homes in the next three to six months. If there is no initiative from the Government to resolve this, those 80,000 people waiting on the housing list will basically become homeless again. There is an old saying down the country and I am sure the Minister often heard it - "when poverty comes in the door, love goes out the window". One then has rows, people going to pubs and family break-ups.

A proposal about which I have been thinking in the past few weeks is that we need to do something for the 20,000 people and indeed all people in mortgage distress. We need to look outside the box and bring something in that will give them a 30, 40 or possibly 50-year mortgage. I have seen in my own area how people were evicted from their property and the State has paid for the past five years. These people are within €7,000 of what that house made but somebody else owns it. I know the Minister is making moves to resolve the social housing problem but given the land banks that exist, we need to tie in a certain price at which houses are built for the simple reason that people around the country need houses they can afford.

There are also situations where councils or housing agencies do not know who is to buy the house. We have seen scenarios where one will start bidding against the other. Clear direction needs to be given in the next few months to start tackling this problem, particularly from the beginning of next year. There is no point in having drawings and planning permission and then waiting for the following year. We need to give people in the different councils around the country the scope and basically the go-ahead to get planning permission ready and get everything in place to make sure we avert a bigger crisis coming down the tracks.

Photo of Joan CollinsJoan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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I note that on 24 November 2014, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Christy Burke, was very angry that the Minister cancelled a meeting with councillors about the homelessness crisis in the capital. It was only a couple of days afterwards that the tragic situation outside the House happened.

I welcome the Minister bringing those groups together along with the Lord Mayor and Members of this House so quickly. Some of the proposals made are quite positive. Given the acute situation, next week we should have a similar debate to discuss the week-to-week progress on the emergency accommodation and establishing the night café. When we come back we should have another 20 minute or half-hour debate with the Minister reporting regularly to the House on the matter. That is the sort of attention that is needed. We need to see the figure of 158 rough sleepers reducing - we know it is more because many people hide their night sleeping on the streets.

I saw a report that Focus Ireland and the Peter McVerry Trust had set up emergency accommodation providing initially 30 beds and then another ten beds to get rough sleepers off the streets over the winter. I was amazed to read at the very end of that report that these beds would be closed down in March when the weather gets better. I presume those people will be going into longer-term accommodation in housing rather than finding themselves back on the streets again when the weather gets better, which is what we have seen repeatedly over recent years when there is a knee-jerk reaction with no longer-term provision.

Some Deputies spoke about the longer-term problems. We have 90,000 on housing lists - it is probably more now. We have another 100,000 people in mortgage distress. We know that many of them will be evicted. The Minister did not accept the Private Members' Bill forcing the banks to adhere to the code of conduct - they are only guidelines at the moment and the banks are not adhering to them. The Government had an opportunity to force the banks to implement this and give people the alternative of staying in their homes rather than going on local authority housing lists and finding themselves homeless.

I raised this during the week and I want to emphasise it today. The need for rent control is becoming more urgent. I got an e-mail from a resident in a big apartment block in my area stating that on 27 November every person in the complex received notice that they were facing a rent increase from €1,300 to €1,600, a 23% increase. There are many people in the complex on rent supplement and many people who are privately renting. Only weeks ago these apartments were transferred from NAMA to IRES REIT, backed by a foreign investor. These people are being regarded as cash cows now as opposed to people who need a home to live in. These investors are coming in and increasing rents dramatically. We propose that these people go to the PRTB as a collective force to fight their case, as this is way above the market rent at the moment. We need to get more feedback on what is happening with rent increases in communities and complexes.

I would like us to get an update next week on the number of beds put in place for rough sleepers, particularly those who find themselves in emergency accommodation, including families in hotels. We need to keep an ongoing check on it. Through those debates and discussions we might all be able to come up with better ideas to deal with these issues in the longer term. I do not believe we have sufficient resources for social housing to be built, but that is another day's debate.

11:30 am

Photo of Olivia MitchellOlivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I call Deputy McFadden, who is sharing time with Deputy Fitzpatrick.

Photo of Gabrielle McFaddenGabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I commend the recent work of Minister, Deputy Kelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, in addressing the crisis in Dublin. I point out that the crisis is not just confined to Dublin, but is a nationwide problem.

The Government's 20-point action plan to tackle emergency and short-term homelessness has committed €20 million to provide 260 additional emergency beds for people sleeping rough in Dublin and a night café to provide a contact point for homeless people who do not want to be placed in emergency accommodation.

The programme for Government contains a commitment to end long-term homelessness by using a housing-led approach by 2016. Following a request by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Dr. Eoin O' Sullivan published a paper entitled Ending Homelessness: Towards a Housing-Led Approach. The paper was critical of homeless services that were focused primarily on providing hostel accommodation as opposed to supporting people to attain their own homes.

Funding is very important but we also need to adopt a systematic approach to addressing long-term homelessness. For example, the midlands Simon Community has shown this through its very successful regional settlement service which is based on the housing first model. This model provides the stability of a home is the first step in helping people overcome the issues of homelessness. This model is not just proven to be an efficient and cost effective method of helping people move out of homelessness, but has also proven to benefit the lives of service users.

The midlands regional settlement service operates in the counties of Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath in conjunction with the four local authorities and in partnership with HSE, and the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. The service works with individuals, couples and families who are referred to the service by the local authorities. They are supported to move out of homelessness and into a home of their own through the development of a personal action plan.

I strongly agree with the recent comments of Midlands Simon Community CEO, Mr. Tony O'Riordan, who has said that homelessness in the midlands is an invisible problem. In Dublin, we can see the problem in a visible way. As Mr. O'Riordan has said, in the midlands, people sleep in their cars, on couches or on the floors of friends' homes, none of which appears in any official statistics.

An official report in 2011, Review of Services Addressing Homelessness in the Midlands 2011, found that despite receiving the lowest level of section 10 funding from the national homelessness budget, the midlands region achieves very significant outcomes and results. Unfortunately, this review found that funding for the midlands region was well below the State average on a per capitascale and the basis of the amount spent on each service user. Ongoing data that the midlands region regularly provides to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government show that the region continues to perform competently with meagre resources.

In the context of doing a lot more with few resources, I compliment the work of Westmeath County Council, which is the lead authority on behalf of the midlands homelessness region which also covers Longford, Offaly and Laois. Unfortunately, the low level of overall funding for the midlands region continues to put huge pressure on services at a time when there has been a 30% increase in demand for these services. I ask the Minister to be cognisant of the efficiencies and value in the delivery of homelessness services in the midlands and for this to be acknowledged with increased resources when the national budget is approved.

In the week 20 to 26 October 2014, data provided by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government showed that 2,580 individuals were homeless and accessing emergency accommodation nationally. This figure does not include people sleeping rough. Charities working with homeless people nationally also estimate that up to 5,000 people could be homeless in this country. It is very clear the scale of the problem is huge.

The Government's plan envisages the delivery of 2,700 units between now and the end of 2016. Some of the main mechanisms identified in the plan include bringing vacant properties back into use; ensuring that local authority allocation schemes give priority to vulnerable groups such as homeless families and individuals; working with NAMA and the voluntary sector to ensure that units are prioritised for homeless households; and ensuring that leasing arrangements facilitate the use and accessibility of these properties by homeless households.

It is imperative that the momentum we have now to address this crisis is sustained until we achieve meaningful results right across the country.

11:40 am

Photo of Peter FitzpatrickPeter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this matter today. Homelessness in Ireland is a growing problem not only for the homeless themselves, but also for their families and friends. It causes great stress and worry for all concerned. As a society we have to deal with this issue. It is not an issue for the Government alone but for each and every one of us, from all sides of the political divide and all sections of the community. It is not an issue that should be used for political gain or for playing party politics. It is a human issue first and foremost.

In my home town of Dundalk, I recently visited some of the many voluntary bodies that deal with homelessness. They include the local Simon Community, the local counselling centre in Seatown Place, and St. Patrick's parish soup kitchen in Roden Place. All these organisations are providing a wonderful service and some truly inspirational people give their time to help the homeless around Dundalk.

Although the problem of homelessness is mainly centred in our capital city of Dublin, it is also important to highlight the issue in smaller regional areas and towns. As I said, homelessness is an issue for each and every one of us. As a Government, we will not eradicate the problem of homelessness on our own. Money alone will not solve this matter and neither will raising the rent supplement cap. We need the help and support of all sections of society.

In many cases those who have become homeless have lost all contact with their family and friends. We must try harder as a society to ensure that this does not happen. We must help those families who have sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers or fathers who have become homeless.

We must remove the stigma of homelessness. In many cases people who find themselves homeless cannot face their families or friends, so the problem escalates. This must not be allowed to continue. How can society help to solve the homelessness issue? First and foremost, we need to understand the reasons for homelessness and ask why it is happening. Why are certain sections of society more vulnerable? Why do people make it a choice to be homeless?

The Government is trying to tackle this problem and has made available an extra €10.5 million in funding for accommodation in 2015. Work has started on converting 245 vacant units back to their original state with an additional 410 being converted over the coming four to six months. In addition, funding for housing is being increased by 40% to €800 million in this year's budget. That is an increase of over €230 million on the previous year. The Government is committed to building 7,500 new homes in 2015, as well as contributing €30 million in 2014 in order to make available 1,800 vacant properties for housing needs.

As I have already stated, money alone will not solve this issue. We need to act as a society to ensure that the problem of homelessness in Ireland will eventually become a thing of the past. We need to look out for our families and friends who may be in danger of becoming homeless. We also need to support the many wonderful organisations that are fighting this issue on a daily basis.

In Dundalk, much good work is being done by those voluntary bodies. I recently met volunteers with the St. Patrick's parish soup kitchen who work six days a week. Working alongside the Simon Community and the housing officer, those volunteers are feeding homeless people every day, giving them soup, sandwiches and dinner, as well as runners and other footwear. They ensure that whoever calls does not leave with an empty stomach. Such volunteers may be called by the Simon Community or a housing officer who seek their help in accommodating homeless people. They will ensure that a homeless person gets a bed for the night.

The only funding that voluntary organisations receive is from public donations. The St. Patrick's parish soup kitchen will have church gate collections on Sunday, 20 December in the Dundalk and Blackrock areas. I call on people to support them. That is only one example of the work undertaken by voluntary bodies all over the country. We would be lost without these volunteers.

We must not give up on the homeless who, now more than ever, need our support.

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. At the outset, I wish to acknowledge the speed with which the Government reacted in the past week. It is a poor reflection on all of us in this House, however, that it took the death of Jonathan Corrie to provoke such a reaction.

Far too often, both Government and Opposition react and are not out in front leading the charge. I cannot imagine the loneliness, isolation and anxiety of people who must live on our streets and sleep rough at night. If anything positive is to come from the death of Jonathan Corrie we must have a lasting solution to the problem of homelessness. At a minimum, the State should provide the basic human need and human right to a roof over one's head.

We all know that homelessness arises for a variety of reasons, including substance abuse, mental health issues, marital breakdown and the loss of a job. We now need to ensure that a holistic approach is taken to this crisis. While in the region of 200 people are sleeping rough in our city streets at the moment, the problem is much wider and greater than that. While we could have 200 extra beds in the morning, not everybody will accept a bed in emergency accommodation. That is a fact. All the money in the world would not encourage some people to accept such accommodation, for whatever personal reasons and experiences.

There is a bigger issue out there. Over 1,500 people are staying in emergency accommodation. They have lost their homes and they include children who do not know where to call home. Those children should be excited about the arrival of Christmas, but they do not know if Santa will come to them due to the uncertainty over accommodation.

I do not want to make a political issue of this, but people have lost their homes as a result of policy decisions. When one cuts rent allowance, it has a drastic effect on someone who is reliant on that payment. In addition, banks have been heavy handed in evicting people from their homes. The buy-to-let market is so volatile that banks are moving in and landlords are left with no choice but to sell rented properties. That, in turn, is forcing people out into emergency accommodation.

The homeless person is not just the stereotype suffering from substance abuse or psychological issues. People from all walks of life are currently in emergency accommodation. Some of them are bedding down and sleeping on couches. Two weeks ago, a woman was in my constituency office. She is holding down a full-time job but her marriage broke up and she is trying to sort out a house in negative equity. That lady in her 50s is bunking down in accommodation with her son who is sharing with five other people. Those are the type of problems we are facing at the moment.

The Minister's oversight group, which was established last year, talked about moving people away from emergency accommodation to free it up for others. However, some people are bed-blocking by staying in emergency accommodation longer than they should. They are doing so because there is no other accommodation for them to move into. We need to examine that situation.

The Minister said one of the answers to the problem is to get more houses in the private rental market, but that system has failed. It has failed all the more spectacularly in recent years as rents have increased. I have never seen anything like it in my own constituency clinic over the last 12 months. People are coming in because their houses are being sold from under them.

The banks are forcing landlords to sell property and rental accommodation schemes are being terminated at an unprecedented rate in local authorities because those authorities have not been provided with the funding to ensure they can continue to supply houses.

The forum was a welcome initiative last week but it was unfortunate that it focused mainly on Dublin. The problem is clearly more profound in Dublin but the issue is nevertheless much wider. I take this opportunity to highlight a concern in my constituency of Longford-Westmeath, where there are two homeless facilities operating. Bethany House provides 19 places for women with mental health issues, young women leaving residential care, people suffering from drug and alcohol abuse or people fleeing domestic violence. St. Martha's hostel provides 11 emergency short-term places for men. These two facilities are helping men and women at a time when they face very challenging personal circumstances and homelessness. Both facilities are running a deficit in excess of €100,000 for the past 18 months. That deficit comes as a result of a reduction in section 10 funding to those services. The €100,000 deficit has been met in the past 18 months by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, but that is no longer in a position to meet the deficit. These two institutions - Bethany House for women and St. Martha's hostel for men - need additional funding to ensure the services in the midlands can be put on a sustainable footing. The necessary funding should be put in place to ensure these services can be kept open. The crisis may be more profound in Dublin and other large urban areas but there is still a crisis throughout the country.

The Minister must also examine how these institutions are funded and how funding is allocated to various regions. My region of the midlands has the second lowest allocation of funding in the country at €649,707. Meanwhile, the neighbouring north-east region, which services a smaller population, has funding of €1 million. That does not add up. I conclude by wishing the Minister well in his endeavours to eradicate the homelessness crisis. He will have the full support of all Members of the House in ensuring this awful crisis is solved. It is unfortunate that it took the death of a man for the Government to find the additional €20 million needed to tackle the crisis. I hope that when the news moves on, the sense of priority and urgency witnessed in recent days will remain.

11:50 am

Photo of Seán BarrettSeán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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As we were delayed starting the business, is it agreed to allow the Taoiseach his full allocation of ten minutes? Agreed.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I will take a few minutes today to express my observations from my engagement and consideration of the homelessness issue last Thursday night and Friday morning. On Camden Street, Harcourt Street, South Great George's Street, Smock Alley and Temple Bar, there were no bells from the church, no urban foxes and no first snowflakes, just the sound of music in the distance and rats skittering across the sodden blankets and beds of needles. On the journey I travelled, there were people laughing and enjoying themselves, making the most of their night out under Christmas lights strung high on the streets over strung-out people in some cases. On Grafton Street, the Gucci sign beamed out over the remnants of humanity, only "remnants" is the wrong word. That night, I discovered the richness of humanity with the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr. Burke, and his team. I found it both in the team which did this night after night on a voluntary basis and, signally, in the men and women wrapped in their blue sleeping bags and to whom food is brought, along with comfort and a degree of company. Above all, the message was that we recognise these people's personal dignity. With this team, these people have an ear and a voice; they are not alone.

I pay particular tribute to the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr. Burke, and his team on behalf of everybody. People administer to these men and women, often very young, who have no home. It is an example to the city and the country in what are powerful works of mercy. I say "having no home" deliberately as the terms "homeless" and "homelessness" have become a kind of anaesthetic or political or social general absolution, as if the homeless and homelessness were sorts of conditions within our society. Of course, they are not.

In the early hours of Friday morning in the cold and rain I met alcoholics, drug addicts and returned emigrants. Some of them shook my hand and a young man thanked me for looking after his sleeping bag while he went to find and use facilities nearby. There were men and women with addiction, heroin addicts, people on methadone and so on. They were still able to find a kind word. They said: "I have to rob, I have to beg; I need this to keep me going. Do you understand me?" I do, to an extent. On Thursday night and Friday morning, I experienced a sobering reflection on what is happening to some people on some streets in this city. It is a replica of what happens in other places.

I have listened to some of the debate involving Members of the House and the causes of homelessness are myriad and complex. Both the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, will do all they can with new major co-operation across the Departments of Social Protection, Health, Children and Youth Affairs, Finance, Justice and Equality, Education and Skills, and the Environment, Community and Local Government. We are now spending more than €50 million in tackling homelessness, and we all have a responsibility to ensure the resources and work are co-ordinated in the best possible way. That is why part of the Government's 20-point plan, adopted on the recommendation of the Minister, Deputy Kelly, yesterday is to review the homeless sector, service delivery and co-ordination arrangements early next year.

Crucially, there is to be €2 billion in investment for social housing, and although results will not be achieved overnight - I accept there are processes to be followed through - there is a willingness by some who will use their expertise in property management and accommodation provision to help alleviate current bed and housing difficulties. The Minister and Minister of State will work with those people. I have listened to parents who are without a home and, to a woman and a man, they tell me that they need immediate shelter but it is not sufficient in the long term. Their children and the family need a home so they can have a life. The unprecedented capacity and potential of more than €2 billion in investment means we will now have the opportunity to provide for that.

I will say a word or two about how soul-destroying it is for people in emergency accommodation. They grieve not alone for what they had but, more crucially, for what they used to be when they had the privacy and dignity of a family life. I spoke a few weeks ago at a conference on mental health and suicide and I was heartened that the views expressed drew a serious and passionate response from practitioners in the area. Many men and women sleeping rough on our streets do so because of the disintegration of their interior life. That can be caused and medicated by an addiction to drugs, gambling, alcohol and so on. They sleep in the wet and cold because of the breakdown of their lives, caused by the break-up of a marriage or family. There are blue dots on the streets because of depression or more serious disturbances in mental well-being which can be so finely balanced and which so many can take for granted. These people huddle in doorways, under arches and in the open under the eye of closed circuit television. They are just out of prison or out of the State's care, too often with nowhere to go. Maybe they are just emotionally or psychologically fragile, with the glue to reality or normality removed by the death of a sibling or parent, for example, or a family row. Perhaps they are paralysed by disappointment as because of what they did or was done to them, life did not turn out as they dreamed or imagined it should be.

12 o’clock

The shift we see in many countries and across Europe has at its heart something far bigger and deeper than just politics itself. In the rush to abandon the architecture we have had and have taken for granted, sometimes people tend to run away from something but the question is, what are they running towards? In the years ahead, issues of identity, dignity and belonging will come very much more to fore as the ground shifts beneath us and as we write a new blueprint for public life and for a kinder and more equal and a better society. In all, it is clear that our shared humanity as people and our shared values of what constitutes a good life are what is important. That is a bond that has to be developed to a far greater extent between the Irish people and their Government. It is a restoring of the old form of the concept of dúthracht, the care and the active and responsible connection between people and all of those who attend around us.

When one meets these people in these circumstances and they look at one through yellowed eyes or have shivering hands, it is not the bond yields, the debt equity or the economic sovereignty in which they are interested but another opportunity for five more minutes of oblivion. As many people have pointed out, these are very complex and individual cases.

We need a strong and sensible economic policy, which I hope Ministers will implement, together with all the agencies. We also need a new human and social chemistry, in particular in that interface between public and private lives. Even when the Celtic tiger was deafening, men and women died on the streets of our country. In a way, the homeless crisis is a kind of autopsy of our national life and of our priorities.

Mr. Jonathan Corrie died on the Dáil's and the nation's doorstep just a few days ago. His death and the manner of it does not make Mr. Corrie or his story public property and in the outpouring of sadness for him and the way he lived and died, we have to be careful to protect his boundaries. He was clearly a man of intelligence, depth and insight. He was also a man of great dignity and I believe the best way we can honour his life is by acting, once and for all, on this issue of homelessness, right now in the emergency shelter, in the long-term housing plan, in addressing the causes of pain and alienation in our society.

I thank the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr. Christy Burke, and the men and women I met last Friday morning for the opportunity they gave me and the generosity they showed me. I was privileged to be able to walk with them as they attended to those less fortunate in our society. For my part, I have assured every one of them that the efforts of the Minister, Deputy Kelly, the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, and all of the agencies will deal with this effectively and in the most human and best way we can. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for this opportunity to speak.