Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and welcome the opportunity to respond to the progress report. A clear action plan, with published targets and progress reports, is a great way to govern, and I applaud the work that has gone into producing the report because it is significant. I have a range of questions for the Minister of State under four of the five pillars, and I will take them pillar by pillar.

Pillar 1 addresses homelessness. First, I would like more clarity about the position of rough sleepers. The progress report notes there were 142 people sleeping rough in Dublin in November, but what about other centres like Cork and Galway and how have the numbers changed since November? I welcome the fact that more than 200 emergency beds have come on stream over the winter, but rough sleeping happens in the summer also. Do we now have enough beds for all rough sleepers in all the places where rough sleeping happens? In Cork in 2011, we were able to say there were enough beds for rough sleepers in the city, so it is doable. I want to know the position, whether we are making progress to end rough sleeping and what else needs to be done.

Second, the very first action point of Rebuilding Ireland, action 1.1, promised to build 200 rapid-build homes by the end of 2016 but just 22, or 10% of the target, were delivered. That is a massive missed target. What are the delays? Rapid builds were presented as the solution for getting families out of bed and breakfast accommodation and hotels. What is the plan for homeless families after July 2017, when the practice of accommodating them in commercial hotels will have ended? Where will they be accommodated if the houses are not coming on stream? How different will the proposed family hubs be to hotels? I hope this is not just a rebranding exercise so that, instead of calling them hotels, we call them family hubs. Children and families need to be in permanent, long-term accommodation, not moved from pillar to post.

Third, action 1.13 promises 300 Housing First tenancies by quarter 4 of 2017. Is there a wider Housing First strategy for other urban centres outside Dublin and, if so, when will detailed targets be set and published in this regard? Consultation with regional and local stakeholders is essential to ensuring Housing First service provision is tailored to meet the specific needs of future tenants. What plans are in place for such consultations to take place throughout the country?

Fourth, action point 1.15 promised €6 million for homeless mental health services. From what I can see, only €3.5 million was delivered, despite overall increases in health spending. These are very vulnerable people and it is deeply disappointing to see this target missed. Will the Minister of State provide some clarity on these figures? I have heard first-hand from people working on the front line of the vast gaps in treatment and access to treatment. In 2016, the Dublin Simon Community counselling service, Sure Steps, worked with 460 individuals, a 56% increase on 2015. The service is not funded by the State and relies on the goodwill of 20 part-time volunteers and trained counsellors. Will the Minister of State provide clarity on why the promised funds never arrived for such services?

Fifth, I am told the National Homeless Consultative Committee has not met since the Government was formed. This cross-departmental and cross-sectoral committee is an important forum. When will it meet?

On a last point with regard to Pillar 1, the Minister of State will know I continue to work closely with the Simon Community. Again and again the issue of the habitual residence condition is used to block people’s access to services. How many people who are homeless are affected by this? What is the state of play of the habitual residence condition? In the context of Brexit and wider EU reforms, will the Government look again at the issue of habitual residence?

On Pillar 2, which deals with accelerating social housing, I congratulate the Government on exceeding its target. That said, the pace at which State lands are being made available for social housing is slower than expected. What will be done to speed this up? Housing associations require access to land already in State ownership to build more homes. Rebuilding Ireland commits to establishing a dedicated one-stop shop within the Housing Agency. Is this one-stop shop in place and fully operational?

Pillar 4 seeks to improve the rental sector. In 2000, just 10% of the population in Dublin lived in rented housing whereas that is now up to 25% in Dublin and 20% nationally, which is a large percentage of the population. While the rental strategy was a welcome step forward, like Senator Gavan, I would have liked to see it go further and faster. Last week Threshold, the national housing charity, called for the introduction of a deposit protection scheme to protect both tenants and landlords. What is happening in this regard? It also called for better minimum standards, including the issue of fuel poverty, and an NCT for private rental accommodation. What about licensees? What is happening in regard to people who are in rent-a-room schemes and what is their long-term security of tenure?Threshold wanted legislation to be introduced so that both the receivers appointed to mortgaged properties and the lenders who have initiated repossession proceedings are regarded as the landlord in relation to existing tenancies. These are sensible proposals by Threshold and I want to know where they stand with the Minister.

I will now turn to the issue of housing stock. Every time I hear the statistic I am struck that we have 200,000 vacant properties, which are 28 empty houses for every homeless person. I note that 3,500 social houses will be created from the repair and lease scheme plan going national by 2021, and this is to be applauded, but that is 3,500 properties out of a potential 200,000. Given the scale of the problem would the Minister consider the use of compulsory purchase orders or compulsory leasing orders? I believe there would be significant public support for such a measure and it would speed up the end of homelessness. It is disappointing that there is no movement on action 5.9 to make it easier to change the use of vacant commercial units or the areas above commercial units. For decades people lived above their shops in town centres - I did so myself - and a move back in that direction will help bring more life into some hollowed out cities and towns.

My final point to the Minister is that the 62 page progress report has made no mention whatsoever of Travellers, halting sites or the de-institutionalisation of people from congregated settings. I am genuinely worried that the housing needs of these groups have been forgotten about. I would like a progress report on both. We need to move people out of institutions and back in to communities. Housing associations support the Department of Health and the HSE in the programme of transitioning people from congregated settings to community based accommodation, including supporting people with mental health services. The Irish Council for Social Housing members continues to experience difficulties in getting approval for capital assistance scheme properties to facilitate moving people out of congregated settings. The capital assistance schemes focus on special needs groups such as the homeless, elderly and people with disabilities. Every effort needs to be made to ensure such obstacles are removed. My colleague Senator John Dolan will speak more on this subject but the housing options for people with disabilities and older people who require support are wholly inadequate and the strategies in these areas require prioritisation and greater commitment from Government. I thankthe Minister of State again for the updated report and I look forward to hearing his response to these questions.