Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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What measures are being put in place in rural areas to prevent an increase in homelessness on foot of the Government's decision to end the ban on no-fault evictions? In my county, Meath, 319 people are in emergency accommodation, including 85 families, 87 children and 130 single people. On top of this, 250 further tenancies have been issued with notices of quit. At present, there is no availability of emergency accommodation in County Meath and, therefore, people from the county are being sent to Drogheda, County Louth. I have been called by people in emergency accommodation in Drogheda who have been on the housing list in Meath for years. I have been contacting the local authorities but have made little or no progress. It is deeply depressing for me, so the Minister of State can imagine what it is like for the people I am representing.

A family who came to my office the other day have been living in their house for more than ten years. They have three kids and have been served with a notice to quit. They earn too much to qualify for the housing list but not enough to get a mortgage. They anticipate they are going to end up in emergency accommodation. Where are they going to go?

Almost all local authorities are at full capacity and no social or affordable housing is available. At the same time, there has been an underspend of €1 billion in the middle of the worst housing crisis in history. Where are people going to go?

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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If you were to believe everything you see in the media, you would almost think this country was a doughnut, in many respects, but I am here to reassure the Minister of State it is not. The midlands is experiencing the housing crisis as deeply as all the cities. How does the Minister of State intend to deal specifically with rural Ireland when it comes to the additional challenges of homelessness it faces? Local authorities are simply unable to cope with the level of demand coming into them. One of my local authorities has stated that along with many other local authorities, it does not have the capacity to meet the current demand with regard to clients presenting as homeless.

That is one of my local authorities. I am blessed to have two. The other has been telling people since last summer, before the introduction of the eviction ban, that if they leave their home - their rented accommodation - on the final date of their notice to quit, they will be refused emergency accommodation and homeless supports because they will be deemed to have made themselves homeless. These are all contributing factors as to why in my town today there is a five-week-old baby who was born into homelessness by caesarean section. The baby and her parents were sleeping in a car up until a few evenings ago when a charity unrelated to housing started paying for a couple of nights in bed and breakfast accommodation.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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When it comes to the housing crisis, the issue is devastating in all areas of the country. In rural Ireland, as my colleagues have said, it is the same. In my constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, this is a crisis for many families, particularly those in rural areas. I spoke to people in the housing department in recent days. While the guidelines on what to do are clearer now than they were two weeks ago, that has come very late in the day. We have people with notices to quit their properties and the local authority is trying to deal with that as fast as it can. In many cases, it is not doing so quick enough because these guidelines were very late coming to the table. As my colleagues have said, guidelines do not provide housing for people. We need a means to provide housing. Many people with notices to quit are living in rural housing in rural areas and local authorities, notwithstanding all the guidelines they have, are saying they are not interested in buying those houses. Where are those people to go? That is one of the main issues.

We also have issues where, for example, a family with two children living in a three-bedroom house are being told they are over-housed in a house of that size. There are all kinds of problems in that regard. Many people have incomes that are over the €30,000 threshold. Many have a wage of between €30,000 and €40,000. They are over the threshold to get on the local authority housing list but cannot afford to buy a house. They are left in this precarious situation in rental accommodation. We need a solution for this because what we have had so far are not solutions.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputies. Before I respond, I should point out this matter was raised in the Chamber last night in the context of the Sinn Féin Private Members' motion. Deputy Harkin also raised it in relation to the north west. The Government is cognisant and mindful of the challenges facing local authorities and people and families across the country, not just in the greater Dublin area and larger urban centres. We are conscious of that. A homeless prevention workshop was held by the Housing Agency in 2022 focusing on needs and challenges across the country. One of the local authorities, Kilkenny County Council in my constituency, has taken a proactive stance. There is a good pipeline of housing delivery in the county and the council is working on a case-by-case basis with families at risk of homelessness. There is a good system in place for dealing with that. It is not perfect by any means and each local authority deals with the issue differently. There is, however, some good work going on across the country. I am mindful of the issue raised by Deputy Kenny about local authorities not buying houses in rural areas. I think they should do so. It is important that any option to purchase houses is taken up. There are also options for people who are over the income threshold for social housing.

The Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Act 2022 was a time-limited enactment which provided for a stay on eviction notices until 31 March 2023, with deferred tenancy terminations taking effect over a staggered period from 1 April to 18 June. Supporting individuals and families facing homelessness in both urban and rural areas is a key Government priority. The Government and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, considered numerous courses of action in advance of ending the winter moratorium period and they believe that a focus on additional new supply is the best way forward. On 7 March, the Minister announced further measures to increase supply of social homes to mitigate the impact of the end of the winter emergency period. These included an increase in the number of supply of social housing acquisitions to 1,500 in 2023 to reduce the number of households at risk of homelessness; an additional 1,000 homes through targeted leasing initiatives in 2023 and 2024; and the amendment of the capital advanced leasing facility used by AHBs to assist them in their efforts to deliver social homes.

The Government has also recently agreed a number of new measures to give tenants the opportunity to buy or remain in their home, including the development of a legislative provision, which may require that a landlord selling a property offers first right of refusal to a tenant or another designated body. Further details of this will be available in due course. That is on an administrative basis from 1 April. The first home scheme board has also agreed to extend eligibility to this cohort who may wish to purchase their property and is now accepting applications from eligible tenants who have received a notice of termination. The local authority home loan may also be assistance in this regard.

The Department has developed a temporary cost-rental tenant in situscheme, which will see the Housing Agency acquire a home in order that a tenant who has received an order of termination and is at risk of homelessness, and where the household is not on social housing supports, will be enabled to continue residing in the property. The scheme has been operating on an administrative basis since 1 April. The measures outlined apply nationwide, including in rural constituencies and counties.

The Minister has also reiterated the importance of being proactive in acquiring properties where a HAP or RAS tenant has received a notion of termination. He has done this both in correspondence and in person with local authority chief executives at the recent housing summits. The Minister is in regular contact with the County and City Management Association, CCMA, and local authorities to ensure all measures we have put in place over the months and weeks are communicated by local authorities and they are proactive in dealing with families on a case-by-case basis to ensure their housing needs are met.

Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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There is no social or affordable housing where I come from in rural Ireland. Evictions started to take place on 1 April and will continue right through the summer. There are 250 families facing eviction in County Meath. Where are they going? They are going to Drogheda for homeless accommodation. This has not been addressed. We need a Government that will address these issues and will not be done under Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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What I have heard in the Minister of State's speech is essentially what the local authorities are saying on the ground. It is not his responsibility; it is the local authority's responsibility. In the case of the local authorities they tell people they are not refusing homeless support because they have told them to go to Midlands Simon Community. That is not tangible support. People cannot live in guidance documents. They cannot live in workshops, worthy as they may be. It does not take a mathematician to work out the number of notices to quit across counties Longford and Westmeath versus the 20 properties available to rent today.

I will put another issue to the Minister of State. We have all of this talk about the right of first refusal but if a young couple in my constituency are paying between €1,200 and €1,500 per month in rent, where are they to get a deposit to buy the property?

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Many people are paying very high rent and simply cannot afford to save. That is one of the big issues they have. They cannot afford to save the deposit for a house. I mentioned a case in this Chamber last night of a woman in Sligo. She has a deposit of 10% because she received it from her mother. However, she has been turned down because she has to show that 3% of that deposit comes from consistent savings. Her rent increased by more than 30% in the past year. She does not have consistent savings. If she could get the mortgage to buy the property and live in it, her mortgage repayments would be around half of her present rent. Despite this, she is tied up with this red tape. The only consistent factor in all of this is that the Government continues to come with all of this red tape, all of these rules, regulations, difficulties and hurdles for people to jump when they are stressed out of their minds. People are afraid they are going to be put out on the street, yet the Government has all of these regulations that need to be met. It is simply not working and there need to be solutions. The solution is to provide housing for people and for the local authorities to buy houses and put people into them.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I reassure the Deputies that we are providing housing. It is not an issue of passing the buck to local authorities. There is collective responsibility and the Government is mindful of that. Resources and funding are not obstacles to the urgent efforts required. More than €215 million has been allocated to homeless services, including homeless prevention in 2023. This funding will ensure local authorities across the country can provide homeless prevention services, emergency accommodation and other services to households either experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. Households experiencing homelessness are supported to exit homelessness to tenancies as quickly as possible.

To assist all stakeholders further to implement ongoing and additional measures to mitigate the impact of the emergency winter eviction ban, the Housing Agency and Department hosted a workshop on 29 March. It was a successful engagement that ensured those working in the area are equipped to utilise all the tools at their disposal to try to address, prevent and reduce homelessness. The big issue is increasing supply and the Government is firmly committed to doing so. Extending the eviction ban would not have done that.

We had almost 30,000 homes - we have put out the figures and they are correct - completed in 2022, a 45% increase on the figure for 2021, but we know and we are mindful that we need to do more. We can see the activation right across the country, with projects on site this year as well, in social, affordable and other forms of tenure. The solution lies in supply, but I reiterate the point that local authorities need to work individually with families. I know, from my experience with the families I deal with in Kilkenny, that local authorities are working consistently and having success in preventing homelessness and ensuring that families have a pathway towards secure and affordable housing.