Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Senators from all sides of the House for their contributions. This has been a very poignant and important debate. It is only correct that the Houses of the Oireachtas should debate such important issues. It is important also, and I agree with Senator Wilson on this, that we would constantly evaluate progress or otherwise. That is the measure that there should be of us as legislators and of society as well. We all agree that homelessness is an unacceptable situation in any society and one we must all strive together to end and to try to find solutions.

I too wish to be associated with the he vote of sympathy on the recent and very sad and tragic passing of Jonathan Corrie not very far from here under tragic circumstances.

It is unacceptable that 168 individuals are sleeping on the streets of our capital city and over 2,500 adults, including 361 families, are in State-funded emergency accommodation across the country. As we all know, those families include children. Our level of homelessness might be very low by international comparison, but this should not make us complacent in any way. There can be no let-up in our efforts in this area until we have achieved our objective of ending involuntary long-term homelessness.

Many issues have been raised by Senators this evening. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, took note of much of what was said during the first hour of the debate. We will take the various ideas and proposals back with us. I have been noting the various issues that have been raised while I have been here. I will not go through them in detail. We have noted them and we will bring them to the forum as well. In his opening address, the Minister outlined a number of significant actions that are being implemented to address the immediate issues of homelessness. Every effort is being made to ensure a bed for the night is available to everyone who needs a place to sleep this winter. It should be acknowledged, however, that the provision of emergency accommodation is not a viable long-term solution to homelessness. The Government's homelessness policy statement emphasises a housing-led approach to homelessness which is about accessing permanent housing as the primary response to all forms of homelessness.

This issues of rising rents and sourcing suitable accommodation, especially in the Dublin area and other large urban centres, have been discussed on the floor of the House this evening. The fundamental reason for the increase in rents is the lack of supply of housing units. Increasing public and private housing supply is a critical issue. Earlier this year, the Government published the Construction 2020 strategy for the renewal of the construction sector, for which I now have responsibility. The strategy includes a commitment to formulate a social housing strategy, and such a strategy was published last week. The social housing strategy sets out an ambitious agenda for ramping up significantly the delivery of social housing in the coming years. It has been mentioned that the social housing strategy sets out to provide 35,000 new social housing units at a cost of €3.8 billion over six years. It will restore the central role of the State in the provision of social housing through the resumption of direct building on a significant scale by local authorities and approved housing bodies. The delivery of housing units, as part of the implementation of the social housing strategy, is critical. As many Senators have said this evening, we will not achieve our objectives unless all stakeholders work together in a collaborative, focussed and determined manner.

With regard to rent control, the Private Residential Tenancies Board was asked to conduct a study to explore options for addressing the difficulties being experienced in segments of the private rented sector due to rising rents and to report back with policy options. I note the various concerns that have been expressed by Senators about increasing rents and the rent control solutions they have proposed. The report produced by the board, Rent Stability in the Private Rented Sector, includes an examination of rent regulation regimes in other countries and proposes for consideration a series of rent stability policy options. The options proposed relate to rent regulation at one end of the spectrum and to measures aimed at increasing awareness of tenant rights under the existing legislation at the other end of it. I reiterate that it is critical to highlight the fact that tenants have rights. I ask all Senators and the media to do so. There is evidence that people are leaving their houses, unfortunately, because they are not fully aware of their rights. We all have a role in addressing that deficit. It is critical that people are fully aware of all their rights before they are forced out of their houses.