Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I feel it is a great elevation from the Dáil.

Unfortunately, we do not have to walk too far from the gates of Leinster House to see the extent of the homelessness crisis. Doorstep after doorstep in Dublin provides unacceptable accommodation for people who are living at the margins of society. This worthwhile motion is very welcome. We can work together across all parties to try to sort out the homelessness crisis. Outside the large cities, homelessness may not be as visible, but it is no less a challenge for those who want their own homes but have to rely on the couches or floors of family and friends or emergency accommodation. Much human despair is unfolding every day for families. We have also heard worrying reports of homeless children being accommodated on blow-up beds in adult hostels. How did it come to this?

Ten years ago we had housing estates being built. When I was on the local authority, I felt the apartments or housing were of a great standard. We felt we had addressed the housing crisis, although there was no crisis then. One of the reasons is that there were many buy-to-let investors who were involved in business and decided they would buy apartments to let. I was probably one of them. However, many of them have now lost their properties because of the downturn. I see many buildings for sale that are vacant for three or four years because the owners are still trying to deal with the banks. That is no good to the homeless who want a place to live. There is an issue with many of the banks, which have been very slow to get these properties sold to local authorities to ensure people can move into them.

We talk about ghost estates. We think of these as estates that were built in the past five or ten years.To me the new ghost estates in my own town are places such as Marian Road - so-called because it was built in the 1950s and 1960s. Most of the people from such areas - which I would call quite good housing stock - moved to newer estates. The ghost estates now are the local authority estates that were allowed to deteriorate when most of the families moved out. The local authorities should have done much more work to address this issue. It is very good-quality accommodation, as we are all aware from canvassing. We go into the old traditional estates that I canvassed 16 years ago, and there is nobody living in them now. These were quite good houses. There is a need for joined-up thinking, and I know the Minister will do this. That is where a lot of the work is being done. I am pleased that the Dáil agreed to establish a special Committee on Housing and Homelessness to review the implications of the problem of housing and homelessness and to make recommendations. I believe these recommendations are logical.

On the main street in Boyle, Bridge Street, where 150 people grew up 40 years ago, I think my mother is the only person living over the shop. There is high-quality accommodation in every town and village. I speak of a small area in County Roscommon; it is not the same as in Dublin. Even around Dublin, over shops, there is high-quality accommodation. There is a need for some type of incentive to encourage people to live over the shop or to live in the towns and villages again. We cannot have a situation akin to that in the US, where there was a quick exodus to the suburbs. The suburbs were nice and they were great, but there is a need to reinvent the towns. As a person who grew up over a shop - we did not even have a back door - I was very happy, and I still live there. Could one raise a family there? It may not be acceptable today, but many families were raised over shops years ago. The fact is that there are people who are homeless, and we need to do something about that.

The scale of the housing construction challenge is huge. Recently, local authorities estimated that more than €1 billion per year is needed over the next five years to address the social housing shortage across the country. A capital funding commitment is a major challenge, but it is not about money - it is about joined up thinking, such as the special Committee on Housing and Homelessness. In this Chamber we can work together to try to ensure we sort out this issue.

The banks have much to answer for because they have been slow to wash out many of the properties that should be opened up immediately for housing. I have seen apartments empty for four or five years. On the question of allowing somebody in for nothing, the local authorities have been slow to address that situation.

In regard to the emergency measures to tackle the crisis, much more needs to be done. There is a need to build approximately 30,000 to 35,000 houses to make up for the lack of building during the past five years. It is an issue of which we lost sight, and it crept up. It was a perfect storm, although that is no good to the people who are living on sofas or in hotel rooms. As a Government, I do not believe we will oppose the motion. Hopefully, this is the new politics - the cross-party politics where we can accept motions and work together to try to alleviate the problem of homelessness. In two years' time we will have another issue, but I hope it will not be homelessness.

I commend the Senator for bringing the motion to the House and I support it.