Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate Senators' views. This is probably the most topical issue in the country at this particular time. I welcome Senators' views and opinions on the whole housing debate. I acknowledge that there is an opportunity now on the floor of the Seanad to express those views. The debate on the first group of amendments has been very wide-ranging, covering everything including rent, supply, the current state of the construction sector, the economics of the construction sector and much of the detail that surrounds that.

The Government is attempting to normalise the construction sector by making provisions and introducing measures and interventions where necessary so that the supply of houses can return to a normal and sustainable level. It is a dual approach which will be achieved through the tenancies provisions in this legislation, through the supply provisions, some of which will be introduced in the Finance Bill, and by other measures in terms of planning legislation. Whilst housing may seem simple in terms of putting a roof over people's heads, it is a very complex area that is open to very many variable factors in terms of economics, construction, tenancies and regulation right across the board. There is no simple intervention. The Government has looked at all areas to see what measures it can introduce to have a positive impact on sustaining tenancies and increasing the supply of houses, which I think is the objective that we all share.

Recently, I attended a meeting with ministerial colleagues from the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland and they are experiencing the very same problems that we are experiencing here in Ireland. I can say that clearly. We are sharing information because they are looking at some of the interventions we are making to see how they could introduce them in their jurisdictions, and we are also looking at what they are doing. That is the way it should be in terms of how we address the challenge that we are currently facing.

I will address some of the issues that Senators raised on the amendments. I acknowledge Senator van Turnhout's specific concerns around children at risk and the issue of emergency accommodation and the protections that are placed around that. Senator Hayden also raised this issue. Tusla sits on the Cabinet sub-committee on housing and has an input into that. The Senator is rightly concerned about it. That is why Government is prioritising emergency accommodation and getting people out of that situation into more sustainable accommodation provided by local authorities or approved housing bodies. The Senator had a number of detailed questions which I am happy to clarify for her if she corresponds with me. I will arrange to do that. She is right to raise the issue of emergency accommodation on the floor of the Seanad tonight. We are addressing that through a number of measures. First and foremost is the Bill before us, the purpose of which is to enhance sustainment of tenancies in houses, because the best way to provide a home for a person or family is to keep them in the home that they are currently in. As Senator Hayden has already done, I acknowledge the role of Threshold, the Dublin homeless executive and other local authorities in their particular regions for the manner in which they are engaging with families and individuals to keep them in their own homes. It has been made clear, and I want to make it clear again here on the floor of the Seanad, that tenants have rights in current law. We will enhance those rights in terms of notice periods and other interventions with the amendments we are making in the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill. Tenants have rights, and no tenant should be asked to vacate a home or be evicted from a home without receiving appropriate advice from people who can provide it - namely, the local authorities, Threshold and other agencies. I encourage any public representative, if presented with the case of a person under threat of homelessness, to engage in a proactive way with Threshold or the local authorities, who can advise them best.

I heard the calls in the Seanad today for increasing the cap on rent supplement. There are thousands of cases. The Government has concerns about increasing rent supplement because we feel it could lead to rent inflation and is just the market chasing itself. That is a cause of concern. Thousands of cases have been resolved by the Department of Social Protection on a case-by-case basis whereby rent supplement has been increased to keep people in their homes. That is happening right around the country as we speak, and it will continue to happen. They are the short-term measures to enhance and enforce tenancy rights to keep people in their own homes.

Through the social housing strategy and Construction 2020 we will increase supply. As Senators have quite rightly identified, supply is the nub of the problem. We do not have an adequate number of appropriate housing units where they are needed in this country. We are focusing Government resources on establishing the quickest way to turn around, enhance and increase the number of units available for people who most need them. There is good news in this area. Before the social housing strategy, the number of vacant houses, or voids, around this country in all local authorities was far too high. That was for various reasons. Councils will say they do not have the resources to do them up and turn them around and that they do not have the manpower. More than 300 additional staff have been allocated to local authorities right around the country to deal with housing and planning issues. That is essentially to deal with the housing crunch that we are experiencing at present. In 2014, more than 2,000 voids were turned around and put back into beneficial use by local authorities. In 2015, we expect it to be more than 2,500. That is a substantial improvement on the situation in which we had existing stock lying vacant in local authorities' hands that was not being used. Between 2014 and 2015, almost 5,000 of those units will be put back into use. In addition to that, we will continue to fund local authorities that present proposals to us to turn those voids around. It is the quickest way of turning existing assets and stock back into use for those on the housing list. We are also approving many acquisitions for local authorities and approved housing bodies where there is value for money and where they can buy houses from the market and utilise those. In Dublin alone, more than 50% of those allocations are being used for homeless families.Senator Hayden correctly identified that more than 739 people or families have been exited from homelessness over the past year by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive. This is progress, but the problem is the pressure continues on the other side of the equation. This is why we must address the supply measures in as many innovative ways as possible, including getting social housing programmes up and running in local authorities and enhancing the roles of the approved housing bodies, which can access off-balance sheet funds and provide housing. The provision of modular homes is a short to medium-term measure, whereby we will provide 500 modular homes within the next six or seven months in the Dublin area to address emergency accommodation. We have provided a supported unit for families to move them out of hotels in Tallaght, which will provide supported homes for more than 70 families.

Much work is being done, and this should be acknowledged, but I am under no illusions that much more needs to be done. The legislation we are debating has the capability to bring stability to the rental market, which will sustain tenancies for a period of up to four years as it has a sunset clause. Senators have asked why we have dysfunctional property and construction sectors. It should be no surprise because we had an overinflated dependence on the property sector in recent years, which contributed to the economic bust we have seen. It has left consequences and a legacy which we are finding very difficult to deal with. We can see this legacy everywhere, with builders who have gone bust, left the trade and are no longer building, people who went bust because inflated property prices meant they were over indebted to banks, and the banks which eventually went bust. Economists such as Senator Barrett know only too well why this happened.

In the current economic climate, as we see recovery happening, unfortunately the construction sector is the last to recover. We are beginning to see it recover gradually. The number of planning permissions is beginning to increase but there are still challenges. Senator Bradford asked whether I have responsibility for housing or for construction. I am a Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, and I am doing my utmost with my colleagues in government, including the Minister, Deputy Kelly, to bring the construction sector back to a sustainable normalised level.

We need to learn from the past. Senator Bradford was a member of Cork County Council and he knows only too well we had far too much overzoning in places where it was unnecessary. We had more than 3,000 unfinished housing estates a short number of years ago. The good news is many of them have been resolved due to Government interventions, such as the special resolution fund. The number of unfinished estates throughout the country has been reduced to fewer than 600. Further progress will be made on these. The market is beginning to resolve some of this also. Many of them will never recover because they were built in places where there is no demand. One may ask quite rightly what the Government has done and whether we will return to the same cycle. I argue and contend we will not, because we now have the Housing Agency which is independent of the Government. Its role is to analyse the demographics of the country to see where the demand is, what type of housing is required to meet this demand and consider where it is needed. Its information and the recommendations it makes are used by the Government to inform policy and to inform where we will invest in infrastructure and prioritise investment so the supply and demand equation is better matched than what we have seen. This is only right.

We will also introduce measures such as those in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act, which we passed last July, to incentivise and encourage investment in house building in the centres of towns and cities. This is to move away from the sprawling housing we saw in the past in out of town locations, where large-scale infrastructure and costly investment is needed. We state it should be invested in town and city centres, where we already have infrastructure and services. We are legislating to incentivise it, and we will bring further legislation forward in forthcoming planning Bills to try to increase the supply of housing. This may attract some criticism from some quarters because we want to increase the number of units available in cities and we will make interventions with regard to the standard of apartments because we feel some of them are over-onerous with regard to the cost of delivery, for example, there may be requirements for dual aspect, lift shafts or car parks. We believe there is scope and availability for legislating to allow for less onerous design concepts for apartments. They can provide homes and units which are badly needed and we need to see progress on this.

Senator Reilly asked why there is no link with the consumer price index. The Government took account of all views on this and we feel what we have brought forward is a form of stability, with a sunset clause. The DKM report and other reports and economists state if one directly intervenes in the market through rent control one will deter investment, and investment is what we require if we are to see more building and housing supplied. For these reasons we will not accept the Sinn Féin amendment. The key point is to extend the period between rent reviews to 24 months, so the fundamental rent setting principle of the 2004 Act is not replaced but tenants benefit from 24 months of certainty.

I have tried to address many of the issues which have been raised. I acknowledge Senator Zappone who, in general, welcomed some of the provisions introduced as being more or less balanced. She stated they were fair but not punitive, which I welcome. She asked about the increase in the number of days' notice from 28 to 90. The question is whether one can serve a notice of new rent before rent is reviewed. The answer is this cannot be done, because the notice must contain the amount of the new rent which can only be set pursuant to a review. I am happy to clarify this further for the Senator in writing.

The provisions in the Bill will go a long way to providing certainty in rent with regard to keeping and sustaining people in their homes over the coming years. The Bill includes sunset clauses because this is a short-term to medium-term intervention. We expect the property and construction sectors to recover as the economy recovers, and with this we expect to see increased supply and the dysfunction to leave the market. As Senator Bradford and others have said, what we need to see in this country is demand being matched with supply. There needs to be an appropriate match with regard to the type of housing unit and where they are required.

I feel quite strongly about creating mobility in the market again. Unfortunately, the economic circumstances which have pertained in recent years have meant we have not seen much mobility in the market. People who have reared their families are living in houses with capacity. We need to see much more accommodation for elderly people as the population grows older. This would allow mobility, as people could move into supported care homes and settings and retain their independence. This is why the Government is investing substantially in capital assistance programmes, whereby we provide homes for the elderly throughout the country so people can have supported independent homes. I hope in time this, in turn, will see the provision of existing family homes, which are probably underused at present, becoming available. Many factors feed into the housing and economic situation we have at present. The Government feels the Bill is a balanced and pragmatic approach, particularly to address rental issues and to sustain tenancies. In the short term we will introduce other measures in the Finance Bill which will assist with regard to supply. It is certainly not to support the construction sector in any way, but to support the citizens of the country who require homes. This is a shared objective of us all.