Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and the opportunity to debate this Bill, which is long awaited. It is very timely, especially in the current climate, that we debate housing provision in general for the citizens of this country. It is a wide-ranging Bill that has much to do with public interface and how public authorities interact and communicate with people who have housing needs.

Housing policy as defined by the Department is "to enable every household to have available an affordable dwelling of good quality, suited to its needs, in a good environment and, as far as possible, at the tenure of its choice". That is a very good definition but it is a pity it is not implemented in many ways through the housing provisions of local authorities and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It holds much rhetoric and spells out very clearly what we should be doing for our citizens. The message many public representatives receive daily is that there are long local authority housing waiting lists and many vacant houses which local authorities have few resources to get back up to accommodation standard. There are many such issues.

Much work is to be done but this Bill sets out, in principle, to address many of the issues I mentioned. Housing provision should amount to the provision of an efficient and fair system of social housing, delivery and service. I do not necessarily like referring to statistics but it is important we have a snapshot of where we are. In 2006, completions for social housing were approximately 93,400 houses. In 2007, that dropped to approximately 78,000 houses. That is a breakdown across all the social housing sector, including the rental accommodation scheme, affordable housing, Part V and the voluntary and co-operative sector. There has been a drop of 15,000, according to my figures, in the provision of houses.

The last official needs assessment carried out by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government was in 2005, which was three years ago. At that time 43,700 people were identified as having a housing need. These are stark indications. With the current economic climate that figure could be higher now. People who had their own houses with comfortable mortgages at that time may now find themselves having a housing need. If a quick survey were done around the Houses, one would find that many Deputies and Senators have had people at their clinics who are now handing back their keys of private dwellings on which they had mortgages. I have experienced this, and I am sure others have. It is a sad day when that happens. We have to look to the future and to ways in which we can help these people. I am hopeful this Bill will address that matter.

The Bill gives legislative provision to allow a Minister to issue guidelines and directions to local authorities, a measure with which I have no problem. It will achieve consistency in the delivery of services across local authorities. The Minister must have a feel for how he wants to deliver social housing and that is a welcome element of the Bill.

The Bill clarifies the housing supports that local authorities are obliged to deliver in areas such as affordable housing, tenant purchase schemes, loans, grants and homeless services. It also acknowledges the official obligation on local authorities to present housing strategies and action plans which, in the interests of consistency and proper delivery of services across the country, is welcome. It is a systematic way to identify the different challenges each local authority faces. There will be public engagement, with consultation, and strategies and plans are to be adopted by the elected members which, as the Minister said, should enhance their role.

I note that under the Bill, as is the case in many areas relating to the environment, the Minister will now have the power to vary plans adopted by the elected members. I suspect this will cause problems because these are the councillors who are at the coalface daily, dealing with these issues, sitting on the housing strategic policy committees, Traveller accommodation committees, needs assessment committees etc. They may go to the trouble of adopting a plan they, as locally elected representatives with a mandate from their own communities, feel is appropriate, but if the Minister does not like it he can vary it. We in Fine Gael will oppose that measure. I would be interested to hear the views of the Government side on that element of the Bill. It is further evidence of Ministers trying to undermine the autonomy of local democracy. There should be an element of trust in this regard. The councillors are elected, they have the mandate and we must put our trust in them. Many Ministers have come through the local government system and should be well aware of the challenges councillors face. I ask for that element of the Bill to be reviewed.

Local authorities have wide-ranging functions regarding the management, maintenance and refurbishment of their housing stock. Many issues arise in regard to the efficient delivery of that service and function. I referred earlier to the resources available to local authorities. For example, if a number of council houses become available today, the turnaround time for them to be reallocated can be months or even years. It is not acceptable that it should take such a length of time to reallocate houses — ten to 20 houses in some cases — while many people are on the waiting list in urgent need of housing. When I ask various directors of services in housing why this is the case, they simply shrug their shoulders and tell me they do not have the resources or manpower to refurbish those houses and reallocate them. There is something seriously wrong if this is the case and I hope the Bill will address that problem.

The Minister mentioned Part L regulations. The BER standards, the building energy rating requirements for new buildings or any buildings to be let by landlords, have been in force since July 2008. If a survey were carried out today, how many council houses would meet those standards? I suspect very few would reach that standard because of the substandard levels of insulation, doors and windows, facias and sockets in local authority housing stock. I acknowledge that in recent years there have been major improvements in regard to the refurbishment of houses, but whether they are good enough to comply with the BER standards remains to be seen.

I ask local authorities to consider the redevelopment of derelict and vacant sites in towns and villages, something from which they have shied away over the years. They prefer to develop greenfield sites because they are easier to design, to get planning for and there are fewer implications for neighbours. That does not, however, achieve what we want to achieve, namely, the re-establishment of towns and villages. Councils should buy derelict sites and build houses on them to reallocate to the people on their waiting lists. That would be the most cost efficient and cost effective thing to do, and would meet the need to integrate communities. While that is not mentioned in the Bill, it could be facilitated under the service action plans.

The last official assessment of housing needs carried out by the Department was in 2005. It appears this Bill will make it obligatory for local authorities to carry out an assessment of need, which I welcome. Staff training and skill sets are required in local authorities in order that the system delivers a consistent assessment of housing needs across the board. Single people tend to be discriminated against as regards housing because they have no dependants and are seen to be fairly independent. They tend to be far down the waiting list. I would like the needs of these people taken into account when assessing people for housing. Officials and councillors should work together to meet those needs.

This Bill gives a statutory framework to the rental allowance scheme which has been in place for some time. Any initiative that gives people with housing needs the opportunity to own, or rent long term, a house is a positive development. A value for money and policy review of this scheme was promised by the previous Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with special responsibility for housing and urban renewal, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, and that was to be completed by the middle of this year. To date that has not happened. The Minister should assess the value for money aspect of the scheme to clearly establish if it can deliver the same accommodation as traditional social housing. There is a concern that local authorities are reneging on their duties to build social housing and are using these schemes to meet the needs of people on their housing lists. I would like such a review to take place as soon as possible.

The home ownership incremental purchase scheme, another avenue for people to get on the housing ladder, must be welcomed. It is an addition to the affordable housing scheme, the shared ownership scheme, the mortgage allowance scheme, the tenant purchase scheme and the subsidised sites scheme, which in the past were successful. It will provide an opportunity for those on incomes too low to qualify for affordable housing to own their own houses. This scheme closely reflects Fine Gael policy in this area.

My colleagues may cover some of the areas I do not have time to deal with, such as the Part V of the Planning and Development Act, under which 5,150 affordable houses were completed between 2002 and 2007. There were 2,482 social houses provided in the same period. With the current climate, it was hoped that the Part V arrangement would deliver more social and affordable houses. As this aspiration will clearly not be realised, it behoves the Departments and local authorities to review their policies and plans to ensure the projected provision under the scheme is maintained, either through direct provision or in other schemes. The abandonment of public-private partnership regeneration projects in Dublin is a typical example of the failure of the current approach. Those affected in the areas in question feel let down and are asking what options are available to them.

Every local authority has experienced its fair share of anti-social behaviour in estates under its responsibility. While this behaviour is concentrated in areas of social deprivation and inner cities, in recent years it has become more prevalent in local authority and private estates in smaller towns and villages. Unfortunately, many of the estates in question were developed by local authorities with the approval of Departments which did not give any consideration to the provision of necessary social and community supports to service these large estates. In many cases, the price we are paying has been the creation of urban ghettos. This is hard evidence of the abject failure of previous housing policies. I hope issues such as these will be addressed in the legislation.

Every local authority is challenged by anti-social behaviour, one of the key community concerns raised on doorsteps during the previous general election campaign. The Fine Gael Party welcomes in principle the provisions which will address how anti-social behaviour will be dealt with by local authorities and the enhanced powers which will be made available to local authorities.

The issue of homelessness and the challenges facing those in such an unfortunate predicament must feature in any debate on housing. I am informed that 5,000 people are homeless at any one time and 2,000 people become homeless every year, the majority of whom live in emergency accommodation. The Way Home homeless strategy announced by the Minister of State promises much in that it proposes to eliminate homelessness by 2010. While it is welcome, the strategy is strong on rhetoric and weak on identifying specific provision of adequate funding and resources to relevant agencies, local authorities and non-governmental organisations to reach this target.

The House should debate the issue of homelessness because in many cases those affected by the problem do not appear on the radar screen of local authorities. Homelessness is not acceptable. A clear, statutory definition of homelessness and the identification of committed resources to reduce the problem are required in the Bill. The role of non-governmental organisations and voluntary housing associations operating in this sector should also be clarified.

I thank the Minister of State for the opportunity to debate the Bill and look forward to further debate as the legislation proceeds through the Houses. I hope my colleagues will address some of the other issues I did not have time to raise.