Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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The House may not be aware, but council housing waiting lists have increased by 9% in the last 12 months. What this means in real terms is that the housing waiting lists for local authority housing has increased from 91,600 households in September 2016 to 99,555 in September 2017 in this State. In my county of Cork, Cork County Council local authority area waiting lists have increased from 4,241 in September 2016 to 6,948 a year later. This is an increase of 63%. In figures, 2,707 households are now on the waiting list. Something is not right here. It is quite simple; the Government is not building or buying a sufficient number of social and affordable housing units to meet the ever increasing demand. What is even more troubling is the very fact that in the same period there has been an increase of 18,671 households signing up for the housing assistance payment, HAP. When a household goes into HAP it is removed from its respective council list. HAP has increased by 18,671. The House could surmise that as a reaction to this scenario the council housing waiting list would come down, but unfortunately the opposite is happening.

Does the Minister of State know the kind of stress this puts on families and individuals and how many are suffering at the moment? It has to be soul destroying for parents, or a parent, to turn to a child or their children and say, "No love, it is not going to happen tonight, but maybe tomorrow". This is the reality for so many people, including families living in hotels and in temporary accommodation. Do we know what it feels like for a child in school when their classmates find out that they do not live in a house? Do we know what it is like for a child when he or she cannot invite friends around to play because they do not have a garden? The whole family unit can be torn apart because it does not have a place to call home. Home is the vital word here.

I am delighted to talk to the Minister of State tonight, but I am appealing to him please to review the social housing targets for 2018 and beyond and to secure additional funds to increase the targets and to meet the ever-growing demand for affordable and social housing.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue which concerns thousands of citizens not just in Cork, but throughout the country. The latest official figures available relating to local authority housing lists are those which were prepared on foot of the statutory summary of social housing assessments, SSHA, carried out in September 2016 by the Housing Agency. This identified 91,600 households nationally assessed by local housing authorities as being eligible and in need of some form of social housing support. Within this number, there were 4,241 households on Cork County Council’s waiting list, which represented an 11.7% decrease on the figures from the previous SSHA carried out in 2013.

The 2016 SSHA figures are the most up-to-date official figures available on waiting list numbers. They provide the most accurate and reliable record of the number of households qualified for social housing support under the social housing assessment regulations 2011 and whose housing need is not being met in any way. The data were compiled following a common methodology across 31 local authorities and a subsequent rigorous analysis of the data collected. The current national figure of 91,600 represents the "net need" position as at 21 September 2016 and was calculated having excluded duplicate applications, households appearing on multiple lists in different authorities, households already in receipt of a form of social housing support such as the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, or the housing assistance payment, HAP, and households which have applied for transfers.

Other higher figures that have been reported in the media recently are simply not wholly accurate or reliable. For example, I note that data obtained by Deputy Ó Broin last week reported 6,948 households on the Cork County Council list. If true, this would represent a 64% increase on the 2016 SSHA data. However, these figures were not of "net" need, that is, they did not exclude the categories I mentioned earlier, namely, duplicates, persons in receipt of HAP or on transfer lists and so forth. They were essentially a snapshot of "gross" housing need at a point in time, September 2017. Clearly, these figures cannot be relied upon as they have methodological weaknesses.

The Department's summary process, which involves all local authorities working together with the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, to a common set of rules, delivers the most accurate and up-to-date count of those households most in need of social housing support across the country. I am emphasising this point not out of some misguided defensiveness but because it is absolutely vital that the unprecedented level of Government investment in social housing delivery over the lifetime of the Rebuilding Ireland action plan is targeted in the most efficient and effective way possible. We must have data on which we can rely. The right type of social homes must be delivered in the right places to the right people as quickly as possible. It is essential, therefore, that we work off the right data to set our social housing targets over the coming years and that we adjust them as required and as circumstances change. It is for this reason that this Government has moved to producing the SSHA on an annual basis.

We need the space and time to focus on housing delivery, which must be the absolute priority over the coming few years. Time spent arguing over spurious sets of raw figures put into the public domain is time wasted. It helps nobody. Currently, the Department is finalising the results of the 2017 housing assessment summary. I expect that the data will be ready for publication within the next few weeks at the latest. This will allow the Department, in partnership with the local authorities, to plan strategically the delivery of the bulk of the €6 billion Rebuilding Ireland investment programme over the period 2018 to 2021. The early indications are that, broadly speaking, the number of households qualified for and in need of social housing support is down nationally. This shows that we are slowly moving in the right direction. Rebuilding Ireland is working. I agree that it is not as quickly and as widespread as we all would like, but the progress is positive nonetheless. In addition, the trends are also positive and moving in the right direction.

The provisional data are showing, however, that a small number of authorities have shown an increase in waiting list numbers. One of these is Cork County Council, which is likely to see a moderate increase on last year. This is something which all involved are working hard to correct in a strategic and targeted way, through the full implementation of Rebuilding Ireland.

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his frankness. We can argue about percentages but we will not fall out over that. The Minister of State referred to households appearing on multiple lists in different authorities. I am a little confused by that because it is extremely difficult to move from the county housing list to the city housing list in Cork. I assume there is airbrushing of figures there. We want to ignore it at present.

The Minister of State also said that the early indications are that the number of households qualified for and in need of social housing support is down nationally. Again, I must disagree with that. It is probably the bane of all Deputies and county councillors that 90% of the issues raised in our constituency offices relate to housing, so we know there is a national emergency. In its alternative budget Sinn Féin proposed an additional spend of €702 million to the Government's original spend. The proposal has been costed and I appeal to the Minister of State to examine it so we can make a difference.

Finally, on a nicer note, I take this opportunity to congratulate the housing departments in the local authorities and, in particular, in Cork County Council and Cork City Council for their excellent work to date. I also congratulate my local county councillors, Danielle Twomey and Melissa Mullane, on their tireless work. It is unfortunate that the task has been made very difficult because the Government has not been providing enough money locally. Local knowledge is vital and when local authorities were building houses, the system worked better. I recall that around three years ago an individual in the housing department said to me, "You know, if this situation keeps going the way it is we will probably have a better chance of emptying the Red Sea with a bucket with no ass in it." That would be tough to do.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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We agree that we face unprecedented challenges regarding the supply of social housing. That has been the issue. Governments of different parties before the recession decided to withdraw local authorities from delivering housing and we are trying to put that capacity back into the system. We are asking local authorities, councillors such as those mentioned by the Deputy and the staff who are involved in this to get back into house building directly, as well as into greater provision of housing. They are taking on that challenge. That has meant increasing budgets and staff and we are doing that. It has taken the last 12 to 18 months to build capacity into the system but the Deputy will see far more delivery coming on stream in direct build, acquisition and voids being brought back into the system. It is important to do that.

The Deputy is correct to thank local authority members and their staff, but I ask them to do even more and to approach this in an urgent way. We are making the money available and there will be increased resources next year as well. The total national funding provision is €1.9 billion for housing next year, an increase of over 46% on 2017. It will allow us to meet the social housing needs of 25,500 households. A large element of that is for the delivery of almost 5,900 social houses - 5,000 through a range of construction and 900 through acquisition programmes. We will need local authorities to be able to fast-track more and to increase the pipeline of projects. That will require the co-operation of local authorities members to use all the powers they have, but that must happen.

I read Sinn Féin's alternative budget as well as its submission to the review of Rebuilding Ireland and its constant discussion of the magic figure of 50,000. We are on the same page with regard to the number of houses we wish to deliver. However, the Government recognises that it takes time to get the supply ramped up. I believe Sinn Féin understands that now as well. We must push it forward as quickly as we can, so I agree with the Deputy.

Unfortunately, County Cork appears to have experienced a moderate increase in its waiting list. However, we are confident that this position will change. Indeed, the level of investment in the county at present should see that change take place quite quickly. We will allocate increased resources if needed. I will give the Deputy the current figures. The construction projects planned at present will deliver approximately 262 units over the next two years with an approximate cost of €60 million. In addition, turnkey projects should deliver 350 social houses at a cost of €75 million. There are also significant acquisitions being funding by the Department through the local county council, along with an increase in HAP and voids. We wish to see more in the pipeline, as that will not be enough to solve Cork's problems. We are asking all local authorities to increase the pipeline of projects over the years ahead. The resources are available. Taxpayers' money has been allocated to this, so we must make it happen as quickly as possible.