Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank Senators Hayden and Landy for tabling this motion. I also thank my colleagues for the amendments they tabled which allow us to have a wider and richer debate.

When I first saw the motion I thought of the 150 families with children in emergency hotel accommodation, the majority of whom have been forced out of the private rental sector by spiralling rents. Effectively they have been economically evicted. We have to be very conscious of that reality. Aside from the massive cost to the State, this hotel and bed and breakfast accommodation is completely inappropriate. It is very disruptive for families and children, who may have to move schools as a result, and raises serious child welfare and safety concerns.

In this regard, I call on the Government to immediately child and family proof all forms of emergency accommodation, and to co-ordinate with the Child and Family Agency and emergency accommodation staff to ensure child protection concerns are addressed. It is increasingly of concern to me.

Moving to the substantive issue before us today, we have an acute crisis. It is not just a homelessness crisis but a housing crisis, which itself is creating the perfect storm for homelessness. The current housing crisis is two-fold. First, as several colleagues have said, there is a shortage in the social housing sector with 90,000 individuals and families on local authority waiting lists across Ireland. Second, there is a serious lack of affordability and security of tenure in the private rental sector, exacerbated by an absence of rent regulation, a rent supplement scheme completely out of sync with actual rental prices in urban areas, and an absence of legislative measures to prohibit landlords from discriminating against tenants in receipt of rent supplement.

I welcome the commitment under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 to deliver 35,000 social homes over the next five years. However, I remain concerned about the adequacy of this response since I understand that we need a minimum of 10,000 new social housing units annually to meet both the growing demand and extensive backlog. I do not understand how the Government plans to deliver 75,000 secure homes in the private rental sector since that sector too is in serious crisis with too much demand, too little supply, and insufficient security of tenure. In the absence of any rent regulation it is essentially a monopoly market with rents and market rates being dictated exclusively by landlords.

Considerable attention has been paid to the recommendation of the DKM Economic Consultants' report on rent stability in the private rented sector, prepared on behalf of the Private Residential Tenancies Board in September 2014. It stated that the introduction of rent control in Ireland would have a negative impact on tenants and the sector in general with tens of thousands of rental properties exiting the system.

This contention has been rejected by a number of organisations working in the housing sector and the economist, Professor P.J. Drudy, from Trinity College Dublin, who argue that there is no evidence of a mass exodus of landlords from private rental systems in European countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and Holland, where second-generation rent regulation has been in place for many years. I am not speaking of rent control which is arbitrary and disproportionate. I am talking about rent regulation, which offers protection and security to tenants while allowing landlords to earn a reasonable profit. In that regard Senator Craughwell has tabled an amendment. While he used the term "rent control", I believe that may be changed. I indicate to the Cathaoirleach that I am willing to second his amendment if the changes are accepted.

Another option is third-generation rent regulation where rent is linked to the cost of inflation or the consumer price index with scope to increase rent in line with improvements to properties. The standard of private rented accommodation is extremely low. Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government statistics found that 47% of private rented accommodation nationally was substandard and in one county 100% of properties did not comply with the standards. The difficulty here and with the introduction of any form of rent regulation is agreeing the starting point market rate since the current market rate is extortionate.

Those proposing the introduction of rent regulation do not contest the position, often cited by Government, that arbitrary and disproportionate rent control would be unconstitutional as per the judgment in Blake v. the Attorney General 1982. However, we do argue that there is no constitutional impediment to the introduction of rent regulations since property rights can be proportionately restricted in the interests of the common good where there is a pressing social need. This is supported by the report of the constitutional review group 1996 and the DKM report, if it is proportionate. That is what we are arguing for.

The Supreme Court in the Blake case acknowledged that the Oireachtas would have to legislate to fill the gap. There was an attempt to do so through the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Bill 1981, which was referred by the President to the Supreme Court and struck down as unconstitutional because it repeated the failings highlighted in the Blake case that any permanent freeze on rents amounts to an arbitrary and disproportionate interference with property rights.

Particularly for young people, including couples, living in Dublin and other urban areas where house prices are continuing to rise, the new mortgage rules on minimum deposits will exclude many from buying their own property. For them, the only viable option is to rent. We must amend the Residential Tenancy Act 2004 to ensure greater security of tenure for these people.

Under the provisions of the current Act, tenants enter into a Part 4 tenancy after renting for six months. This should provide them with security for four years before going back to scratch. However, in reality landlords can end a Part 4 tenancy in a number of ways including: if a tenant cannot meet a rent increase; if a landlord intends to sell the property within three months; or if a landlord intends to change the use of the dwelling.

I rented for three years in Belgium. The only way my landlord could get me to vacate the property is if my landlord needed the place to live there personally. We need rent regulation and the Government must re-examine the concerns it says it has on it. Its members must go out and talk to people.