Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter. It focuses on the issue of homelessness and I phrased it so that it relates to families.

Our traditional view of homelessness tends be that it affects an individual whose particular circumstances have led to the person, be they male or female, ending up on the street. However, something different is happening now. It is largely the fall-out from the collapse of the economy and the banking system. People sometimes boast about the great things that came from the Celtic tiger economy. I am sure there were some, but there were many things that were not so pleasant, such as emigration and so forth. The housing crisis was one of them and the present Government is left in the situation of trying to resolve it, given the history of not only social housing but also private housing over the past ten years. Social housing was practically abandoned by the previous Government and the current Government had no money. Just as in the case of hospitals, which was the subject of the previous Topical Issue, if one does not have money, one cannot do things. That is the reality.

Currently, we have the highest percentage of people in the private rented sector in the history of the State. That includes families and students. It is a mixture of families. Some are comfortably off while some are on very low incomes. There are also families who are in receipt of the rent supplement, which quite rightly gets much attention. However, a new problem that has got out of control is the increase in private rents. It is spiralling. It is said to be a phenomenon confined to Dublin, but it is not. Private rents are out of control. I can offer the example of my area, Dublin 24, which has seen the highest increases. In some of the cases I am dealing with, private rents have increased by 31% in a period of 24 months. No rent supplement can compensate for that. We must get a handle on whether the hard-pressed taxpayer should continuously chase after the increases that private landlords add to the rental for their premises. I do not believe they should, and it is something to which many taxpayers would object.

Essentially, given the increase in rents in the private rental sector, I believe families who are in private rented accommodation will end up as part of the homeless population - the individual people we tend to talk about - unless we introduce a rent freeze for a period of two years.

While some in the House think we can introduce a programme and build houses in three months, the reality is different. It takes 18 months to two years to build a house and I would expect legislators to know this. In the intervening period it is getting out of control and homelessness will affect not just individuals but also families. The argument has been made that controlling rents is a constitutional matter. If so, it is up to the Minister and me to do something about it. What use is a Constitution that leads to families finding themselves homeless?

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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On behalf of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, I thank the House for providing me with an opportunity to update Deputies on actions being taken to address homelessness in the immediate, short and longer term.

It is a very positive reflection on our society and political culture that this ongoing debate on homelessness is taking place. There are very few nations across the world that place such an emphasis on the plight of the homeless and fewer, even among our EU colleagues, that are so effective in implementing responses and bringing about solutions. The issue of homelessness is complex and about much more than just funding and money, as the Deputy pointed out. Statutory responsibility for the provision of accommodation for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities. The HSE also has a role to play in providing the health care and social supports required by homeless individuals.

I assure the Deputy of the commitment of my Government colleagues on the issue. There has been a focused and co-ordinated approach to tackling homelessness. In February 2013 the Government published its homelessness policy statement which outlined its aim to end long-term homelessness by the end of 2016. The statement emphasised a housing-led approach, which is about accessing permanent housing as the primary response to all forms of homelessness. Last May the Government considered and approved the implementation plan for the State's response to homelessness. This is a practically focused delivery plan which contains 80 actions which will contribute to the delivery of a ring-fenced supply of 2,700 units of accommodation by the end of 2016.

The long-term solution to homelessness is to increase the supply of homes. Last month the Minister launched the Government's social housing strategy 2020. This six year strategy sets out to provide 35,000 new social housing units at a cost of €3.8 billion and restores the State to a central role in the provision of social housing through a resumption of direct building on a significant scale by local authorities and approved housing bodies. The strategy is about providing housing for all social housing households, including homeless households, during the course of the six year period. Significant funding has also been made available to housing authorities to refurbish vacant units and this work will continue. This is a priority because it can provide much needed homes for homeless households. For example, there are 655 units in Dublin city that, with refurbishment, could be returned to productive use. Work has started on 245 of these and a further 410 will be completed in the next four to six months.

It is also essential to increase the volume of housing supply being made available to homeless households so as to meet the current urgent situation. Therefore, the Minister will be issuing 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, having regard to the time spent by these households on the homeless and other housing lists as at 1 December 2014. He will be considering a similar approach for other housing authorities across the country. He is also approving regulations to provide for the new housing assistance payment to be rolled out in the Dublin region on a pilot basis and which is specifically focused on homeless households. The pilot scheme will ensure homeless households in the Dublin region can access accommodation in the private housing market.

Earlier this month the Minister convened a special summit on homelessness to reaffirm the Government's commitment to end involuntary long-term homelessness by the end of 2016. The summit was attended by the Catholic and Church of Ireland Archbishops of Dublin, Deputies, elected members, officials and politicians from the Dublin local authorities, representatives of the NGO sector involved in the delivery of homeless services and officials from a range of Departments and State agencies. A number of actions arising from the summit were considered by the Cabinet sub-committee on social policy and public service reform at its meeting on 8 December and were then formalised in an action plan to address homelessness which was noted by the Government at its meeting on 9 December. The action plan which is available on the website of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government contains a number of actions which constitute an immediate response to the issue of rough sleeping in Dublin, as well as actions identified which tackle the more systemic issues, classified under the three categories of the housing-led approach.

Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. I commend both the Minister, Deputy alan Kelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, for the substantial, historic investment in social housing. It is the first time in the history of the State that such a substantial amount of money has been provided for the provision of social housing. I commend the speedy action taken in recent weeks, in bringing homelessness to the top of the agenda, not just in Dublin but also nationally. I know that the Minister of State, Deputy Joe McHugh, will convey to the Minister my point about a rent freeze. In the next two years we will walk into a situation where houses will be on stream. I do not believe in the broad brush characterisation of landlords, as there are good landlords. However, there is evidence that our difficulty with supply and demand of homes is being exploited. It is for us, as legislators, to protect tenants. There should be emergency legislation. I am advised that while a constitutional change might be required to introduce rent control, it would not be required to introduce a rent freeze. We should be at the front in doing this before the crisis worsens.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I will convey the Deputy's specific point to the Minister. This is about supply and demand and the increase in rents. The issue is not confined to the capital but also manifests itself in places such as Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Cork. The Deputy acknowledged the short timeframe in which the Government has taken a series of actions. Within a period of six years the Government plans to invest €3.8 billion in the building of 35,000 houses, comprising public private partnership and State provision. This is an attempt to address the supply and demand issues. As an economics student, my first lesson was on supply and demand. There are supply issues in Dublin. There was a high profile issue in recent weeks. I acknowledge the proactive approach taken by the Cabinet and the Minister and the Minister of State in introducing the 50% quota to ensure 50% of local authority stock within four local authorities go to homeless persons to ensure that over the Christmas period we will not have people on the streets, aside from those who decide to do so voluntarily.

I appreciate the supply and demand points raised by the Deputy. He raised the issue of interfering with the market through a rent freeze. The market is the market, but the Government can lead from centre stage by addressing the issue of supply. We can work towards resolving it in partnership with the private sector.