Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement that talks are taking place with the EIB on co-funding social housing. We have had a number of reports this week which have focused on housing generally and social housing in particular. On Tuesday, the Governor of the Central Bank opened a consultation process on proposals to restrict mortgage lending. We also had Dublin City Council announce that social housing waiting lists have gone up to 20,000 in its functional area, which is an increase of 3,000. Yesterday, the ESRI asked the Government to spend an additional €500 million in the budget on social housing while today the Nevin Economic Research Institute requested the Government to spend billions not millions of euro on social housing construction, arguing that it will help the economy to grow. All of this is welcome.

Housing is in crisis and that can only be resolved by robust construction. However, even if we had shovel-ready projects and bulldozers in the field, it would take 12 to 18 months to create an appreciable improvement in supply. In the meantime, we have a serious problem on the ground, particularly in view of the growing needs of those presenting as homeless. I ask the Leader to put it to Government that in the forthcoming budget we must commit whatever funds are necessary to deal with the problem of homelessness. Given that so many people on social welfare and low incomes are depending on the rental market in the meantime for their housing, I ask for measures to be put in place to stop exorbitant rent increases taking place. In particular, I ask the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, to increase rent supplement limits to ensure that families can find and keep rental housing until longer-term issues of housing supply are resolved.

While I am happy that we will soon have a debate with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, when he announces his strategy on social housing, I would also like to see a debate on rental housing. The reality is that one in five families is living in rental housing and depending on private landlords with little or no security of tenure. Perhaps, the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, might take that debate.