Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to House and thank her for setting out the arguments for the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014. The Minister of State's brief involves an extraordinary responsibility but it is one she wears well and with the utmost commitment on housing and homelessness. A mark of the success of the Government will be whether housing and homelessness, which issues are linked, can be resolved or hope established in relation to them in light of the Government's aim of eradicating homelessness by 2016.

I have not prepared a Second Stage speech but I have a few points I would like to make and a few questions that will determine which way I might vote. I wish to put on the record that there are many reasons families become homeless. I will then speak about the Bill. The main reasons are structural and economic, be they insufficient housing, high rent or poverty. The next one is the underlying reason for homelessness concerning the individual, be it addiction, mental health issues or relationship breakdowns. Making a sweeping statement that homelessness is just about accommodation and shelter does not necessarily involve understanding the overall crisis.

The recession has also resulted in an increase in the number of families becoming homeless, primarily due to the structural economic costs, particularly in Dublin. The vast majority of families who have become homeless over the past 18 months were previously living in the private rented sector. The main external reason families give for becoming homeless is that they are unable to afford their rent because the maximum rent supplement levels are insufficient to meet it in a number of cases or because at least one parent is working and, therefore, the family is ineligible for rent supplement. There are many examples of new types of families who are increasingly finding themselves homeless.

The Minister of State recently launched the homeless strategy national implementation plan. In response to that, Fr. Peter McVerry came up with a more nihilistic or less positive approach to that. While the implementation plan might be achieved by 2016, the changing profile of the homeless population will increase the pressure. Although I support the Minister of State in this, I am not so optimistic that it will be eradicated by 2016.

I am broadly in support of the Bill, particularly in respect of the HAP being transferred from the Department of Social Protection to local authorities. However, I have a few caveats. One of them is my anxiety over delay and local bureaucracy and the question of whether there is sufficient staffing and support to ensure that these payments will be implemented. Perhaps we could look at monitoring and measuring that so that within six months of the implementation of the Act, we could examine whether this is achievable. I would worry about that. I know the Minister of State is rolling it out over a certain amount of councils. Perhaps we could look at monitoring how quickly that response takes place.

I know Barnardos is very particular about the quality of housing. It has called for a certification system, which I do not see in the Bill. Under the Bill, the landlord is responsible for tax clearance certificates and being tax-compliant but I do not see a measure to improve the standards of private rented accommodation by establishing a certification system whereby landlords seeking to lease a property would need a certificate stating that the property is of sufficient quality and compliant with legislative standards. I would like to hear the Minister of State's response to that to reassure me. Local authorities must be resourced to monitor and enforce standards across the private rented sector. Those two issues are interlinked for me. One is the application of the HAP and the timeframe for it, and the other is a certification system. Tax clearance requirements for landlords are very detailed but how clear are we regarding whether a property provides reasonable accommodation for a family?

I am disappointed that rent controls are not included in the Bill. I know it is something the Labour Party might be keen on. I sit on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and Gaeltacht.