Results 3,861-3,880 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Ms Hayes for that comprehensive report.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Mr. Stanley. We move to the members now. We will do a seven or eight-minute slot. People should raise their hand if they wish to come in on an answer. I advise Mr. Kavanagh to let me know if he wants to contribute something, as people online sometimes get left out.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: Sorry. I have to interrupt Dr. Kavanagh there because we are well over time on that slot. Mr. Shinnors probably wants to speak but I will have to bring him in in the next round because I have to move on now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I have allowed everybody else to have a minute or two longer, so I will extend that to Deputy Higgins as well, if she wants to come back in.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Mr. Shinnors. I call Deputy Duffy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I will take one more answer if anyone wishes to offer one.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: Deputy Higgins was under time. I appreciate that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: We can have a subsequent round.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Deputy Ó Broin. I see that Deputy McAuliffe is online and I can to bring him in now or I can go before him, if he so wishes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: The Deputy has another two minutes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I will take the next slot myself. I want to talk about policy measures that we can take to assist. We must bear in mind that when we pull the policy lever it can be quite a while before we see the reaction at the end of the line. The tenant in situ scheme, as well as the tenant in situcost rental and the first home loans opportunity that the legislation is going for, put measures in place...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: Has Threshold well exceeded the figure allocated?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: What is the engagement like from the Department? The Minister did say it was the starting point, that it is not a target. Having gone back to the Department and said: “We are way over this figure here. Is the Department still funding this or going with it?”

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: That is fine. In terms of other policy measures, Ms Hayes mentioned long-term leasing. She said anything is preferable to homelessness in terms of economic ideology or housing ideology. We had a type of model before where a local authority would enter into a long-term lease for 25 years for a privately built development. Is that something all of the witnesses would support? Ms Hayes...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: Is that more as a result of the emergency rather than what Mr. McCafferty would consider the ideal starting point in an ideal world?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I have just seen some good results from it in my constituency where the local authority has entered into long-term leases. Not only does it provide housing, but it provides an opportunity to free up family homes as well, as they tend to be one- and two-bedroom units. I have seen the cascade effect of it as well. I do question the long-term economic benefit of a 25-year lease, which we do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: Absolutely. The witnesses are dealing with the emergency situations and when I focus on policy, it does take a little time to kick into place but it has a long-term benefit. Because of the crisis we are in at the moment, I do see the advantage in that, although I would have had a view on it before. As well as that, we hear from developers that a lot of the sites where these developments...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: There is a difficulty in trying to fix a certain tax for a certain cohort. I have more questions on policy but I am conscious of time. At the critical point at which the landlord has served notice of termination and somebody is about to be become homeless, when Threshold intervenes and tries to talk the landlord back into renting out the property and keeping doing what he or she is doing,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: The difficult point we have to address is how to introduce some sort of taxation or monetary incentive to keep the landlords who intend to stay. We do not want to incentivise any who were intending to stay to leave by offering them a good deal to get out. It is a very tricky area to navigate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Ms O'Reilly. I have gone well over time, for which I apologise. We move now to the third round, beginning with Deputy Gould. I may come back in later with some further questions.