Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

At some point in the future, the House would appreciate having the Minister of State here for a longer period of time to talk more generally about the future of social housing and other forms of housing delivery because it has come up a number of times on the Order of Business. Almost every party has raised it. It is not ideal for us to use a debate on legislation to bend the Minister of State's ear, so I would appreciate it if she came back to the House.

As the Minister of State said, the Bill makes a technical amendment to section 31 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. For me the principal issue with this Bill is the deletion of section 31(6). Historically, the differential rental scheme has been a very important aspect of Irish social housing. When it was introduced in the 1960s and enshrined in law in the 1966 Housing Act, it made housing available on the basis of the means of a household and on the basis of that household's composition and need. It was a needs-based form of social housing delivery and it contrasted quite significantly with what we had in the 1930s and 1940s. While I do not want to go into a history lesson, it was a very important principle that if one had a housing need, it should be satisfied and any rent should be charged on the basis of one's ability to pay it.

Section 31 attempted to give local authorities and differential rent schemes the possibility of charging rents based more on the location of the property and on other factors. I am very gratified that the Minister of State said that she is fully in favour of local authority rents being linked to household income as an important principle and not on anything else. I very much welcome that because it is an important principle which goes to the core of what this country is about, namely, the provision of housing according to one's need and one's ability to pay.

It is no secret that we have as many differential rent schemes in this country as we have shades of green. It is not acceptable, nor is it the way to do business. As the Minister of State said, there is no justification whatsoever for this disparate approach. One will pay a higher rent in one part of the country than in another which bears no relationship whatsoever to the housing unit one is socially renting or to one's family circumstances. That is ridiculous and should not be allowed. The principle is an important one and it is based on need and ability to pay.

There has been a very significant change to the housing system in this country over the past decade with rent supplement, in effect, replacing social housing as the main form of social housing support and with the roll out of RAS. I congratulate the Minister of State and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, on their commitment to rolling out the housing assistance payment system, which is a very significant development for the considerable number of people getting their housing with assistance from the State.

There has been a very clear divide up to now between tenants who are paying rent supplement in the private rented sector and those who are lucky enough to be in receipt of social housing. If one is receipt of social housing, one can pay differential rent, whereas is one is in receipt of rent supplement, one has to stay poor to keep getting that support. That is keeping people in poverty and I very much support the transfer of the rent supplement scheme to local authorities and the introduction of a differential rent scheme, through the housing assistance payment, HAP, in the rent supplement sector. It will be a very positive force. From my experience wearing a different hat, I know that the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, has been very successful in terms of labour market activation and people do return to work when they have an opportunity to do so. There is very little or no doubt about this.

I very much welcome the introduction of the housing assistance payment. I also welcome the Minister of State's statement that she will legislate for a new tenant purchase scheme along the lines of the incremental purchase scheme. One of the benefits of incremental purchase is that it does not necessarily relate to the dwelling a person is in. The beauty is that a tenant who is receiving social housing supports, through the housing assistance payment or the rental accommodation scheme, for example, will be eligible for the incremental purchase scheme, whereas before one had to be living in a council house. This is because tenants in the voluntary housing sector have no eligibility for the tenant purchase scheme. It will be important in levelling the paying field in order that any tenant who is receiving social housing supports will have eligibility for the tenant purchase scheme.

I take the opportunity to make one special plea regarding tenants in flats who, as far back as 1986, were promised the opportunity to buy them. This is a particularly important issue in Dublin and Cork. Many tenants have tried on numerous occasions to buy the flats in which they have been living and various Governments of different hue have tried to implement a tenant purchase scheme for flats. It was announced under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the Department has put in place pilot projects. The one difficulty is that it is to be introduced under the incremental purchase scheme, which gives the discount into the future as opposed for years already elapsed. I do not want to get too technical about this, but one of the difficulties is that many of the occupants have been tenants for 30 or 40 years. If they are to be given no credit for the years they have already put in, they will not be in a position to purchase their flats. Given that successive Governments, including this one, gave them that commitment, I would like to see the traditional tenant purchase scheme put in place, specifically, if necessary, for the purchase of flats. It is a commitment we must fulfil.

I congratulate the Minister of State on the social housing programme. We have made much progress. There is much to be proud of that is ongoing in the Government. The Minister of State will go down in history as a reforming Minister and I hope we will look back on this period, particularly on the introduction of the housing assistance payment, as being very positive for a significant number of people. Some 26,000 could expect to benefit under the housing assistance payment when it is introduced.