Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I move amendment No. 43:

In page 18, subsection (7), between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following:

"(c) the maximum period in which an applicant for social housing or housing support shall stay in accommodation designated as emergency;".

Again, this seeks to amend subsection (7) by inserting a new provision specifying that the Minister, in his regulations, would specify the maximum period in which an applicant for social housing or housing support shall stay in accommodation designated as emergency. This is an important amendment which would commit the Minister to providing for a maximum period after which a housing authority would have an obligation to provide a household with alternative long-term housing accommodation. It is consistent with Government policy. This is a significant amendment that would provide for an important and enforceable new provision. It is important that it be made because it would give teeth to the Government's homelessness strategy. While it would be a departure — I do not pretend it would be something new to the Bill — it would also commit the Government to that to which it is already committed politically in the homelessness strategy which states households should not be left in emergency accommodation beyond six months. There is an aspiration and a political commitment to adhere to a maximum period beyond which households should not be left in emergency accommodation. In the amendment I am seeking to give to teeth to this commitment and have specified in the legislation that the Minister would designate a maximum period. The Minister could choose to designate a longer period. It may not need to be as tight as six months but that is the period at which the Government is aiming. There is no justification in a developed country in 2008 for leaving households longer than six months in emergency accommodation.

This is an important provision that would give teeth to the legislation. It would deal somewhat with the issue of homelessness which we raised in earlier debates on Committee Stage. Many of us have suggested there might be more in the Bill to tackle homelessness but this measure would give teeth to an important commitment the Government has already given. It is not against the Government's strategy. I, therefore, ask the Minister of State to consider inserting in the legislation the power to specify a maximum period. Given that the legislation states the Minister may make regulations, it would not tie the Minister's hands. I am not seeking to do this, rather I am asking that the Minister consider that within the regulations there should be the power to specify a maximum period beyond which households should not be left in emergency accommodation.