Dáil debates

Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions

Local Authority Housing Provision

2:20 pm

Photo of Eoin Ó BroinEoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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10. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will review the decision to discontinue with the ministerial directive that instructed local authorities to allocate 50% of social housing to homeless and other vulnerable households on the grounds that the research report on which the decision was taken is fundamentally flawed. [28800/16]

Photo of Dessie EllisDessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister review the decision to discontinue the ministerial directive instructing local authorities to allocate 50% of social housing to homelessness and other vulnerable groups on the grounds that the research by the Housing Agency on which this decision was formulated is fundamentally flawed?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ellis for taking the questions for Deputy Ó Broin, who for whatever reason is unable to be here. That is fine.

In January 2015, a ministerial direction was put in place that required the Dublin region housing authorities to allocate at least 50% of tenancies under their control to homeless and other vulnerable households, with the authorities in counties Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford being required to allocate at least 30% to such households. The direction was subsequently renewed on two occasions, with the last renewal expiring on 30 April 2016. At the time of the last renewal in February 2016, the Housing Agency was requested to conduct a review of the operation of the direction and provide an impartial assessment. The agency recommended that the direction should be allowed to lapse upon its expiry date.

This direction was only ever intended to operate for a short period to provide an immediate increase in the number of social housing tenancies being allocated to homeless households. In the normal course, local authorities and their elected members are best placed to determine the allocation of social housing for their areas in line with national policy. Among the agency’s findings was that the well-established allocation procedures of housing authorities are capable of responding to particular housing need without an ongoing ministerial direction. This analysis is vindicated by the fact that in the first six months of this year, local authorities nationally have assisted more than 1,350 sustainable exits from homelessness into independent tenancies, with almost half of these going into social housing tenancies. By the end of this year, there will be more tenancies provided for people and families who have been homeless than in any year in the past. That this direction has lapsed does not mean we are not prioritising and getting better results for families that are homeless.

Taking account of the Housing Agency's report, my predecessor decided not to renew the direction after 30 April 2016. I do not propose to revisit the issue as I do not intend to renew the terms of this direction. I am confident the comprehensive range of actions and initiatives under way to increase housing supply generally, as set out in Rebuilding Ireland: An Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, will enable local authorities to maintain or exceed the level of housing allocations to homeless households and other vulnerable groups achieved under the ministerial direction. All the evidence suggests that is happening.

Photo of Dessie EllisDessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister stated that last April the Housing Agency made the recommendation to discontinue this directive. I find that hard to believe when we are in the midst of an emergency. In one week in August this year, there were 6,611 people who were homeless. The issue has continued even in spite of the decision and people still report as homeless. The problem will get worse. There are more than 1,200 children in emergency accommodation and the last count of those who sleep rough was up as well. What is the decision based on? I cannot understand how we are allowing this when there is a crisis because of so many homeless people. Why have we discontinued the direction to allow 50% of allocations go to those who are homeless? I understand that we do not want to go down that road indefinitely but we must do something by continuing the direction.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I agree with all the sentiments. We must do something significant and we are doing so. Tomorrow we will announce how we will spend €5.35 billion on a social housing programme that will add 30% to existing social housing stock nationally in the next five years. It is why we have a raft of measures to bring vacant properties back into use and we have tripled the ambition of the rapid build programme initiated by the last Government. It is why, this year, we will have significantly more homeless families and individuals housed in sustainable tenancies than last year, despite the directive being in force at that time.

There is no lack of priority or ambition in responding to what the Deputy directly describe as a crisis. I am working night and day on that, as are many other people. Before answering these questions I had a meeting with the Dublin Region Homeless Executive to make sure we are on schedule with the targets we are setting for ourselves. I am asking whether having a 50% requirement on local authorities in Dublin adds to what we are trying to achieve, as opposed to allowing those authorities to judge the percentages for themselves. We will probably go beyond that prescribed percentage in certain months. It is too blunt a tool and all the evidence suggests the new approach is working better.

2:30 pm

Photo of Dessie EllisDessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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2 o’clock

I disagree that it is too blunt a tool. There were signs that it was starting to work but the reality is that the numbers are still well up. The Minister is rolling out his programme tomorrow and I wish him all the best with it, but we had the same problem when the last Government was in office. It also rolled out a programme worth €3.3 billion but we are actually in a worse position now. I am not saying that the same will happen this time because I believe the Minister is very sincere but the evidence so far indicates that the figures do not add up in terms of what we are building. We are relying too much on the private sector and that is the big problem. Unless local authorities start building and delivering social housing, we will be in the same position in another year or two. That is the problem we are facing.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I do not disagree with much of what Deputy Ellis has said and that is why we are ramping up new-build social housing delivery through the local authorities. Last year, as the Taoiseach mentioned earlier, only 74 or 75 local authority houses were built across the whole country. Other local authority housing units were made available through voids being brought back into use and through acquisitions but in terms of new builds, there were only about 75 units. In contrast, by the end of this year there will be 1,500 units under construction-----

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Will they all be local authority units?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It will be a combination of local authority and approved housing body, AHB, units, with around 1,200 being built by the local authorities. We are ramping up and by the middle of next year that figure will be significantly increased. However, we must recognise the realities in the meantime. We have to get families who are currently in totally unsuitable accommodation and people who are in danger of rough sleeping who are in emergency accommodation into sustainable tenancies where possible. Over time, we will dramatically increase the number of social houses that are available to house people but in the meantime we must rely on the housing assistance payment, HAP, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and other forms of supported tenancies. Most of the HAP tenancies, by the way, are long term, ranging from five to 20 years, so in that sense they can provide good, sustainable solutions for families.