Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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8. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will examine the method used by voluntary housing agencies to set the rent levels of their tenants and the rights of tenants in circumstances in which they are faced with substantial rent rises; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33384/17]

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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46. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the steps he will take to ensure voluntary housing agencies that are recipients of State funds do not raise their rents out of line with rents charged by local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33386/17]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am asking a question on voluntary housing agencies which is being answered along with a similar question from Deputy Gino Kenny. The substance of the question is to find out if the Minister is aware of very serious rent hikes being implemented by voluntary housing bodies because of methods they use to calculate rents, and if the Minister has any intention of investigating this matter or imposing more structures and restraints on how voluntary housing bodies and approved housing bodies conduct their rent regimes.

10 o’clock

Does the Minister have any intention of investigating this, or putting more structures or restraints on how voluntary housing bodies and approved housing bodies can increase their rents or conduct their rent regimes?

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 46 together.

The normal legislative provisions of the Residential Tenancies Acts governing rent setting, rent reviews and notices of changed rents for private rented tenancies do not apply to approved housing body tenancies. Instead, these matters are governed by the tenancy agreements, leases or financing arrangements that are in place. When a social housing unit is provided by a housing body under a payment and availability arrangement with a local authority, it is a condition of such funding that rent must be determined in accordance with the differential rents scheme of the housing authority in which the house is situated. This mechanism accounts for a significant element of the housing being delivered by housing bodies at present. When housing is provided by a housing body under the capital assistance scheme, my Department's historical guidance states that rent should be at a level that is reasonable having regard to the tenant’s income and the outlay of the housing body on the accommodation, including the ongoing property management costs. Housing bodies are also required to consult local authorities on the setting of rents.

It should be noted that provision has been made in the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 for the Residential Tenancies Board to have a dispute resolution role in housing bodies' tenancy rent settings and reviews. In summary, a housing body tenant may refer a dispute to the Residential Tenancies Board for resolution on the question of whether the initial rent set for his or her tenancy, or the rent arising from a rent review, is in line with the provisions of any tenancy arrangement, lease or financing arrangement in place. This provides an important protection for housing body tenants when disputes arise regarding these matters. Notwithstanding this provision, it is timely that the overall approach to rents in the housing body sector would be subject to review. My Department will consider this matter later this year in consultation with the housing body sector and the local authorities. It will also take account of the work being undertaken on the development of a national framework of differential rents.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I note that 47,000 social houses are due to be built by 2021 in line with the target set under the Rebuilding Ireland policy. The Minister might believe that this will happen, but I do not. The approved housing bodies and the voluntary housing bodies have quite a central role in that strategy. It is intended that approximately 15,000 houses, or one third of the total, will come from that sector, which is subsidised to a huge degree by the State. The Minister has said that the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board covers rent increases in this sector. However, I have it in writing from the board and from Clúid, which is the voluntary housing body I am complaining about here, that the remit of the board does not cover rent increases in this sector. It covers the setting of rents in this sector, but not rent increases. As the Minister has said, a memorandum of understanding with this sector provides that rents should be reasonable and that lower limits or floors should be set. However, a ceiling is not set.

There will be a problem if one third of the social housing stock comes from the voluntary housing sector, which has always had a great reputation. I have always believed it is a great sector to be housed from. The problem is that all of the tenants are taken from the local authority lists. Like other Deputies, I have constituents whose tenants are paying much higher rents than the local authority because they do not use the local authority method. When I query this, they say that they use a local authority method. It just happens that they do not use the method of the local authority where they are located. A scheme in Chapelizod could be setting rent in accordance with the terms of the local authority in County Kerry, for all I know. Dublin City Council's method for setting the rent is certainly not being used. I have clients whose rent has increased by 38% this month. That is way out of kilter with the national norm. Something needs to be done to address that.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy has taken enough time to cover both of her supplementary questions.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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As I said in my initial reply, I will review and consider the matter the Deputy has raised. I will look at the differential rents under the national framework later this year. The housing bodies are playing a crucial role at the moment. They will continue to do so as we look to develop and supply more social housing to people in this country. We are seeking to provide 47,000 new social housing homes over the course of the Rebuilding Ireland plan. A big piece of work is going to come into the Dáil in September. It relates to the regulation of housing bodies. It will be a very important piece of work. Over 300 housing bodies are dealing with these issues in this State at the moment. We need to find ways of making sure there is a consistency of approach between housing bodies. We need to leverage those bodies to their maximum potential in terms of financing solutions. We need to increase the scale of what those bodies are doing. That will potentially require amalgamations. We will have to see about that. It might require overseas housing bodies that have greater experience of doing this on a bigger scale to come in. There is huge potential here. The most important thing is to get the regulation in place and onto a statutory footing. That will open up avenues for the financing needed to help us to do everything else we want to achieve.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Question No. 46, in Deputy Gino Kenny's name, is grouped with Deputy Smith's question.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Do I not get to ask a supplementary question?

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I was very generous with the Deputy. I will allow another short question.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Do I not have time to respond to what the Minister has said?

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, you do. I have already given you two minutes.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Okay. The voluntary housing sector is due to get approximately €1 billion from the State under the Rebuilding Ireland plan. That is quite a lot of State money. When I referred earlier to "clients", I should have referred to "constituents". I apologise to my constituents for referring to them in that manner. My point is that people have seen rent increases of 38% at a time when there is supposed to be rent control. An increase of €20 a week might not seem like much to people who are paying exorbitant rents in the private rental sector, but it amounts to €1,000 a year, which is a hell of a lot to bear for somebody who is on the old age pension or on disability allowance. When I queried this with the housing body, I appealed to it to take a more incremental approach in light of the fact that the people in question have received increases of just €5 this year. The housing body dismissed this by saying that people who are having difficulty in meeting their heating bills could contact the relieving officer in the Department of Social Protection. This is a flippant, cruel and inconsiderate way for bodies that are receiving State support to behave. It suggests to me that more constraints, structures, rules and regulations are needed in this area of the rental sector. People from the housing list who are given homes are worse off when they go into the voluntary sector than they would be if they went into the local authority sector. There is a real hole here and it needs to be dealt with.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I hope they would not be worse off after going into a voluntary housing body property then they would be if they went into a local authority property. That is not the intention at all. Depending on the type of funding that has been received from the housing body, there is an obligation for it to consult with the local authority on the setting of rents. As the Deputy has suggested, there is also an ability for a housing body tenant to apply for a form of rent supplement if he or she needs such assistance. The Deputy is absolutely right when she talks about the need for stronger regulation in this area. That is exactly what I intend to provide when I bring forward legislation later this year.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I call Deputy Gino Kenny.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The subject of his question has been covered.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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In accordance with Standing Orders, I will allow Deputy Ó Broin to ask a supplementary question.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Deputy Smith has raised a very important point. It makes no sense that there are two rental arrangements for the approved housing body sector. The case raised by Deputy Smith arose because capital assistance scheme funding has more flexibility than capital advance leasing facility funding. There should only be one system of rental arrangements in this sector.

I would like to mention two other anomalies. Local authorities do not include family income supplement or carer's allowance in their assessments for rent payment purposes, but some housing associations do in certain kinds of tenancies. That makes no sense whatsoever. Similarly, some housing associations are starting to require deposits from tenants. This is not happening in the case of availability agreement-funded units, but is happening in other cases. Such inconsistencies cause real difficulties for people. I urge the Minister of State to ensure the same rental systems, and the same calculations for rent, apply to local authority houses and to all approved housing body tenancies. I do not think this necessarily needs to be in the forthcoming legislation.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I take Deputy Ó Broin's point. We need to be sensitive as we approach this because we are talking about voluntary bodies in many cases. We need to make sure they are working together in a consistent and co-ordinated fashion as much as possible. I hope the regulations will help to provide a framework to do that, in the interests of ensuring the type of consistency mentioned by the Deputy is provided to tenants whose housing solutions are being provided by housing bodies. It is very important for tenants to have this kind of consistency and certainty. As we move towards putting the regulation onto a formal footing, we will need to make sure that kind of consistency between the housing bodies can be found, thereby enabling them to deliver what they feel comfortable with in delivering in accordance with their ethos.