Seanad debates

Wednesday, 15 June 2016

Poverty and Homelessness: Motion

 

10:30 am

Photo of Paudie CoffeyPaudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy English, and wish him and his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, well. They face a real challenge. I welcome the motion tabled by Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael agrees with much of its content and, in fact, much of what it proposes is already under way.

I was formerly the Minister of State with responsibility for housing and was appointed to office in 2014 in the middle of the crisis. Without pointing fingers or laying blame, the environment in which the Ministers are currently trying to meet this challenge must be acknowledged. People ask why this happened. The reason was obvious. We had a bankrupt State in which, unfortunately, the local authorities had abdicated their responsibility for building houses for over a decade. As a result of the economic crash, access to credit dried up both for builders and for individuals seeking to build their own homes. In addition, repossessions began to take place. We see the obvious result with homelessness. It is a shame for this country. It is something on which we all must work together, irrespective of party politics. We are depending on local authorities, all political parties and on society in general to respond to this challenge in a responsible way.

I commend the Ministers on the work they are undertaking now. Many of the foundations for that were laid over the past few years. The previous Government, despite the fact that the State was bankrupt when it took office in 2011, committed over €4 billion to the social housing strategy, so it is not a matter of throwing funding at the problem. I believe, as a result of my experience over the past two years, that it is about improving the efficiency of delivery of supply in both the public and private sectors.There is a lot to be learned in this regard. We have systems in place in local authorities and the Department - I am being constructively critical - that are old and which were set up for a day that is long gone. The challenge is of such proportions that we need serious reform, not only of the local authorities and how they deliver houses but also of the Department. Some Senators have alluded to the fact that there are too many barriers or stages in the approvals process. The Minister has committed to undertaking a review of it, which is to be welcomed.

Another measure taken recently is similar to the devolved scheme for schools under which local authorities can apply to the Department for a sum of €2 million and it is then up to them, on receiving approval, to go ahead and build units with that amount of money. I ask the Minister to tell the House how many local authorities have come forward to take advantage of that scheme since it was announced a number of months ago. It is a quick, accessible way to address the housing crisis in many local authority areas and I would have thought that once the scheme was announced, local authorities would be breaking down the door of the Department to get projects up and running. Under the scheme, no further approval is required once initial approval is given by the Department. That is a welcome development and I urge all local authorities to take advantage of the scheme.

On homelessness, I agree with the content of the motion. It is unacceptable that there are young families and children residing in emergency accommodation. However, it is the reality in the current environment that building houses takes time because projects must go through the planning process, infrastructure must be put in place, tenders must be issued and construction must then take place. I note that there has been criticism, some of it deserved, of the last Government and its failure to deliver. However, I can say without fear or favour that funding, approvals and necessary mechanisms have been put in place to enable houses to be constructed. I understand almost 200 construction projects are under way. They were given the green light by the Department and will deliver houses as soon as possible. It is important that local authorities and the project managers therein accelerate and complete these projects.

I agree with the points made by Senators opposite about voids. Obviously, this was an issue that needed attention because much of the local authority housing stock was lying vacant or in a derelict state while people languished on housing lists. That is just not acceptable. Funding for local authorities was prioritised to enable them to refurbish voids as quickly as possible. The figures in this regard are available from the Department. Some local authorities are excellent in dealing with voids, but others are woeful. Some view their housing stock as an asset to be managed and when it is unused, they invest in it and turn around units as quickly as possible, but others leave houses empty for months, if not years. That is not good enough and those local authorities that do not come up to the mark should be held to account by councillors and Members of this House in order that those on housing lists can be better served.

I draw the Minister's attention to a number of issues. First, I believe we should prioritise the quick-wins, voids being the obvious one. Existing stock must be turned around quickly and put back into use as soon as possible. Urban regeneration is also very important because the required infrastructure is already in place in urban areas. While it is welcome that the €200 million fund has been put in place by the Government for critical infrastructure, I point to the many cities, towns and villages in which existing full serviced housing stock is lying derelict and vacant. We need to provide incentives to unlock the potential of these sites and get the owners to either sell or let them. That would increase footfall in the centre of towns and villages all over the country. That would be a quick-win solution and a cross-cutting departmental response will be required to make it happen. I know for a fact that the Department cannot do it on its own. It will need help from the Department of Finance and several others.

Part V obligations and the viability of construction are huge barriers to supply. Builders tell us that they are finding it very difficult to access credit and if they cannot do so, they cannot build. We can talk all we like in this House about the matter, but unless we can find sources of credit for builders, we will not see enough houses being built. The local authorities have been provided with funding and set on the path, but they must be held to account if they fail to deliver. In order to reduce the overhead costs associated with delivery, the last Government reduced the Part V obligations - from 20% to 10% - which exposed it to some criticism and it will be interesting to see how many housing units are provided under the new regime. Unfortunately, for a number of years a Fianna Fáil Government accepted cash from developers in lieu of housing units under the Part V arrangements. Had that not been the case, we would have 10,000 more social housing units in the system today. That measure was simply wrong and when I was in office, I removed that mechanism, with the result that developers are now obliged to provide social housing units under Part V, which is the way it should be.

During the boom years a lot of money was collected by the local authorities under Part V arrangements. That money was supposed to be ring-fenced for reinvestment in housing, whether by way of the maintenance of existing stock or through new builds, but it appears from the figures for voids and new builds that there was very little activity in that regard. I want to know what happened to the Part V money collected by every local authority. I suspect some have invested it in housing, but that others are sitting on it, even to this day. This matter should be examined very closely to determine the level of funding available under the Part V arrangements which can now be used to purchase sites and build new housing developments.

I wish the Minister well in his role, but there is no easy answer to this problem which requires a cross-departmental, cross-societal response. We all have a responsibility. It is not just about throwing money at the problem but also about finding efficient ways to deliver housing quickly. I urge the Minister to tell the local authorities to look again at towns and villages which contain derelict houses and vacant sites, in respect of some of which planning permission has been granted, instead of focusing on greenfield sites. There is a far more efficient way to deliver housing. I will certainly be putting my shoulder to the wheel in whatever way I can to assist the Minister and every other Senator will do the same. This is a national problem that crosses politics and political parties and it behoves us all to respond in a responsible way.

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