Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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2. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the further plans that he has to update the income limits for local authority housing and other housing related supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46929/22]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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3. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason that he has not raised all of the social housing eligibility income thresholds; and if he plans to do so. [47295/22]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The income limits for social housing have not increased in a decade, while property prices have doubled over the same period, forcing people to turn down work or face the prospect of homelessness. Other families who received the pandemic unemployment payment, despite its temporary nature, have now been forced off the housing list. In a perverse twist, the budget measures announced yesterday to help families will push more of them off the housing list, resulting in the withdrawal of housing assistance. When will we see changes to these thresholds?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 3 together. As Deputy Naughten will know, Housing for All was published in September 2021. He is right that housing limits have not changed for ten or 11 years. As part of the broad suite of social housing reform, I committed to reviewing income eligibility for social housing. The review, which examined the efficiency of the current banding model and income limits applicable to local authorities, has been completed.

I have recently approved implementation of some of its recommendations. The review has now been published and it is available on the Department's website. The recommendations contained in the review include the commissioning of work to scope and develop options for a revised or new social housing income eligibility model. This work will commence shortly. I want it done in a time-bound fashion. The work is being done by the Housing Agency, which I believe is in the best position to carry out that work. It has been tasked with commissioning it. It is expected, and I am insisting, that that work will conclude before the end of this year. Pending completion of the work, I have also approved changes to the social housing income eligibility bands in five local authority areas in counties Carlow, Clare, Galway, Laois and Westmeath, moving them from band 3 to band 2. Accordingly, the baseline income eligibility threshold for these areas will increase from €25,000 to €30,000. The change reflects the movement in rents in these areas in recent years and will ensure local authority areas with similar accommodation costs continue to be grouped together in their respective bands. These changes will come into effect from 1 October. I have to wait for the report to which I referred before considering any further income threshold levels for all counties. I do believe they need to be increased, but I will have to base whatever proposals I bring forward to get Government approval on the report that I receive and any potential impact that those changes will have.

We are doing this work while we are increasing substantially the social housing new-build stock that is out there. However, this is an important piece of work that has not been done. We have not had a proper review or change in income eligibility for over ten years. I have made those first changes in the five counties to which I have referred. I expect to receive the further work on this before the end of the year. I am insisting on that. I actually met with officials to discuss the matter yesterday. It is important for the many reasons outlined by the Deputy, including to ensure that the income limits are applicable to today's world, and to see how they fit in with our affordability thresholds as well. Thankfully, we are seeing a newer tenure coming through now, namely, affordable rental and affordable housing at scale. That in itself is important to how we see social housing fits in with the affordable housing measures that we are bringing forward, which are taking hold now and for which around €1.3 billion will be provided next year in new affordability measures. As I have said, I am insisting that the work is completed by the end of this year. As Minister, I believe that the limits do need to change and be reviewed. In the short term, and it is a short-term measure, I have changed the income eligibility threshold for those five counties.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Turning to the short-term measure, I welcome the changes that have been announced for counties Galway and Westmeath, but what does the Minister have against people from County Roscommon? Did he have a teacher in school who he did not get on with from County Roscommon? From 1 October, there is going to be €6,000 of a difference in the income thresholds for people living in Baylough in Athlone who are on the same income, living next door to each other, paying the same rent and whose children play in the same football teams and go to the same school because they live on opposite sides of a white line. Seventeen minutes up the road, in Glentaun in Creagh, it is even worse. There is not even a white line in the middle of the road and there is that differential there. Why are those people being discriminated against? We need to be inclusive and not exclusive. We cannot wait until the end of the year for these changes.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I have to say that the Minister's response is deeply disappointing. First, he has had this report since December. I do not believe for a second that the delay in taking action, whether to extend the uplift in band to more counties or to extend the uplift more generally, is to do with the need for more research. I am firmly of the view that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is absolutely resisting the Minister's desire to raise these income thresholds. The consequence is as follows. There are families who are being reviewed, they are €10, €20, €50, €100 or €500 a year over the limit, and they are losing five, 12 or more years on the list. I had one case, and the Minister has corresponded with the family in question, where due to a family reunification - thankfully the family got back together and that is good for their children - they are a tiny amount of money over the threshold and they cannot even get onto the social housing list. That family, as the Minister knows, is homeless and accessing emergency support services.

This is a very straightforward decision. The Minister has the power to bring to Cabinet a proposal to raise the thresholds. We do not need this additional research. I welcome the fact that the Minister has finally published the review. I have had a quick read of the recommendations. The recommendations are primarily calling for more research. We know what is happening. The Minister's own backbenchers are telling him what is happening. The thresholds are too low and people on very modest incomes cannot get social housing support or HAP and are being removed from the social housing list. I urge the Minister to act in the interest of these people now, rather than delaying this for another six or 12 months.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The changes that I made already in respect of the five counties to which Deputy Naughten referred were changes that very obviously needed to be made. I was able to make the changes quite quickly. In fairness, I recognise that the Deputy has welcomed those changes, which take effect from 1 October. For those who have read the report, and I am not saying that the Deputies have not read it-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I have not read the full report, but I have read the recommendations.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I am not addressing Deputy Ó Broin directly. It is not all about him. I am just saying that I would ask those who have not read the report to do so. I am not satisfied with elements of the report submitted to me, to be very frank, as I said during the previous oral question session that we had. I do not believe that some of the recommendations within the report go far enough. We need to change the income eligibility limits. As Deputy Naughten rightly stated, it is over ten years since they were changed. To Deputy Ó Broin, I say that we do need that additional piece of research, because we need to be able to base the decision as to what the thresholds will be in different counties, whether we will have one threshold, two bands or whatever, on factual information. I have said already, and I do not want to repeat myself, that I intend to have that piece of work done through the Housing Agency, which has the expertise to do it. I am certain that all the Deputies here respect the work that the agency does. I will have that report before the end of the year. I will then bring forward proposed changes to the Government for approval. It is something that I earnestly want to do, but I have to do it in a structured way based on fact and I will do that. I know how important it is to people and I know that there are people who have been caught in the middle. I am also looking to see if there is anything we can do by way of transitionary measures while this work is taking place. It has been brought to my attention that there are some cases where people have gone over the threshold in the short term and have been removed from the local authority housing list. That is not something I want to see, particularly for a small change. I am earnest in my desire to make significant changes here that will be made subject to me receiving the report before the end of this year.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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As I said, the reality is that the income limits have not changed in 11 years. Property prices have doubled in that period of time. In fact, the price of a three-bedroom semi-detached house is increasing at €100 per day at the moment. We need, even in the short term, some discretion in situations where people get a temporary increase in income. There should be some flexibility so that they are not automatically excluded. That is going on left, right and centre right across the country at the moment and it needs to be addressed.

Second, I wish to ask the Minister a question in relation to the tax credit that was announced yesterday. RAS and HAP tenancies are being excluded from the measure. What is the story with local authority and housing association tenancies? Can those tenants claim the relief?

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Here are the facts. Large numbers of people are losing access and are being denied access to social housing supports. How do we know? Because Deputies from all parties, including the Minister's party, have been saying it on the floor of the House for five years. One of the big concerns now is that as a result of the income tax and social welfare changes that were announced yesterday, there may be another group of people who are pushed marginally above the limit. I would be interested to know whether any analysis was done by the Minister's Department as to the impact of those changes on households that are at the margins of the existing limits. What I am not hearing from the Minister is the urgency that is required. We have been debating this, including when the Minister was on this side of the House, for years. Can the Minister tell us when he expects to bring a proposal to Cabinet at least, so that those people who are struggling will have some light at the end of the tunnel? I do not accept that a review that took over a year to conduct, that is now taking over a year to assess, which could then lead to even more research and assessment, is an acceptable timeline. These people are hard-pressed and cannot afford their rent.

They are losing years and need the Minister to act now.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Any fair analysis would show I have already made significant changes in the five counties I could address straight away. To Deputy Naughten's point, I am looking at what we can do with regard to discretion. I have received a number of good examples of cases where people were marginally over the limit because of a change in circumstances in the previous year and have since fallen back under the limit. Some local authorities are insisting that those people go back for a new application. I am happy to use this opportunity to say I am absolutely looking at that. I have been using examples of some of the cases that have been forwarded to me by Government and Opposition Deputies to work through what we can do by way of transitionary interim measures.

I am serious about making changes in this space but those changes must be made on the basis of proper research to ensure the levels we go up to are commensurate with the affordable housing piece. We must consider the best mechanism across the country, whether that is a banding system, a blanket system or something else. I am not delaying this. The Housing Agency, for which I have a lot of regard, has expertise in this area. It has been commissioned and is in charge of this piece of work. I have already said to my officials in the Department that I want this concluded by the end of the year. We are coming into October so I want completion within the next three months. That is the timeframe to which I want to work to bring measures and proposals to Government for approval. I know how important this is for people. The Government is increasing the social housing stock to levels not seen before, which is good. I meet new tenants all over the country who are getting a home for life. That is fantastic and shows that the social housing programme is working. We must get it up to a sustainable level. We must ensure that those people who have been waiting for a substantial time for those homes get them, and that our income limits, as Deputy Naughten rightly said, are applicable to today's world. That work is under way. I hope to have recommendations to make to the Government before the end of the year. I will move on it swiftly.