Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

Elected members will have new powers to devise rent schemes that set out policy for the determination of rents by managers, as well as updated powers for housing authorities to charge income related rents for accommodation and rent contributions in the case of the rental accommodation scheme, RAS.

Local authority tenancy agreements will include conditions specifically prohibiting anti-social behaviour. It is important we deal with anti-social behaviour because it destroys estates. In some cases, a handful of people can upset entire neighbourhoods. Irrespective of whether such practices take place in private rented accommodation or local authority housing, they are not acceptable.

The Bill will broaden the choices available to those seeking social housing by establishing a more developed framework for contractual arrangements to secure rented accommodation for social housing. These provisions are based on the experience of the rental accommodation scheme which involves housing authorities progressively taking responsibility for accommodating people in receipt of social welfare rent supplements. It is not acceptable for landlords to refuse rent supplement. It is discriminatory and should not be allowed. By the end of 2008, it is expected that more than 16,000 households which would otherwise be paying rent will be rehoused through RAS and other forms of social housing.

The Bill supports the creation of a flexible system of housing supports for those in need, improves customer choice to meet changing requirements over a person's lifetime and strengthens the powers of housing authorities as social landlords and regulators of social housing to deliver better quality housing responses in a more strategic way by focusing on the building of sustainable communities. The most important provision in this Bill is its commitment to sustainable communities.

Local authorities have been some of the worst landlords in the country. While the private sector also includes bad landlords, during my time as a councillor I visited accommodation prior to it being occupied. It is disgraceful for a local authority to give a house in bad condition to a young couple or a mother with two children and expect them to live in it. This Bill should prevent this from happening because a house will be properly renovated before being occupied. Equally, the tenant should be expected to return the house in a good condition to the local authority.

The Bill will provide updated powers for housing authorities to assess a household's need and eligibility for local authority housing, rental accommodation such as RAS and voluntary and co-operative housing provided with Exchequer funding. I welcome these changes and look forward to working with locally elected members to provide a better housing system for all who need it.