Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for addressing the House today. Changes are being made albeit they are very slow to come. Over seven years in government, the Minister of State and his colleagues have built 5,000 social housing units. The most recent figures show there are nearly 9,000 homeless people in Ireland. Nationally, there are approximately 5,500 adults and 3,500 homeless children. However, the Taoiseach has stated that this is low by international standards in order to downplay the crisis. There are over 100,000 people on the social housing waiting list despite the fact that only 653 social houses were built in 2016. Fine Gael scrapped the affordable housing scheme in 2011 and never re-established it. The new loan scheme will not address affordability if supply is not increased.

While I welcome the fact that the Minister of State has been talking about supply, it really is the biggest issue here; the lack of building and the supply of housing. Rentals have soared from over 23,000 above the previous 2008 peak. Dublin city dwellers are now spending as much as 55% of their take-home pay on rent. That is massive. More than half the income they take in goes on rent. House prices, combined with strict Central Bank rules, have meant that home ownership levels have slipped to record lows of 69% across the country. The biggest issue is the removal of the local authority role through the slashing of Part V to 10% of housing schemes. That was a massive issue. In the future, we must ensure there is a home-first approach, focusing new units on wraparound services.

There is confusion about the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme. I am glad the Minister of State referred to HAP because this confusion is very serious. I know I am always explaining about HAP but it needs to be looked at again. One must be on the housing list to receive HAP. When one qualifies and gets one's form, there is a requirement to fill in another form stating that one wants to be left on the housing list. If one fails to fill that second form out, one will be taken off the list. People are sending in their HAP forms but the other form applying to stay on the housing list is not being returned. I had a case only last week where a lady who was on the housing list for six years went onto the HAP scheme. We got her payment and everything was fine. I asked her if she had filled in the form to ensure she was left on the housing list, which she had two weeks to return. It is called the HAP transfer list form. She said she had not. I told her that if she had not filled it in, she would have been taken off the housing list. We went back in and I tried to get her back on it. She has to go back to the very start of the list. She was on the housing list for six years. These are the issues that are happening and they are massive. Nevertheless, they are not difficult. HAP is a lot better than RAS but can the Minister of State please get those forms out of the way and simply leave people on the housing list?

I refer to social housing and the off-balance sheet model, which would allow AHBs to secure ISIF and credit union investment. There is money in the credit unions and the Minister of State needs to look at their investment in housing going forward. I also ask the Government to bring back the 20% Part V social and affordable homes provision. I have asked the Government to establish a new affordable home purchase scheme on State lands and the Minister referred to that in his contribution, which I welcome. I have massive issues with the rent pressure zone scheme, which still applies to only a few areas. In my home town, Carlow, HAP provides applicants with €537 a month. However, the rent for a house in Carlow has gone from €900 to €1,000 per month, which means people have to pay the difference. That is because they are not in a rent pressure zone. The Minister of State needs to roll that out as a matter of urgency.

I have addressed the following before. Carlow has one of the lowest caps to qualify for the local authority housing list at €27,500, whereas our neighbouring counties are at €31,000 or €33,000. I have a commitment from the Minister of State to look at that. It is something he must do. Every local authority is different. We need to roll out an NCT-style accommodation certificate. We need to roll out a scheme where every local authority is looked at separately. It goes back to the Minister of State. I note the confusion over HAP, rent pressure zones and failing to qualify for the housing list. These are all simple things but they are massive to a person who needs to go on the local housing list. They are not being met and there is such confusion.

I ask the Minister of State about landlords. We need to put a system in place to reduce either local property tax or commercial rates. We need to put a 90-night limit in place on Airbnb rentals. The Minister of State needs to look at regulation in that area. The Minister of State referred to new mortgages and I welcome the fact that we are bringing in new mortgages through local authorities. It is a great initiative. It is at the lower rate, which I welcome. However, there is a problem with this new mortgage.People now need to have savings of 10% of the loan to avail of a mortgage under this new scheme, whereas they only needed 3% savings under the previous scheme. Who will be able to increase their saving to from 3% to 10%? I rang a person this morning who had applied for a local authority mortgage. She had to have a certain amount of savings, which was 3% of the loan and had been given six months to build up her savings. From the introduction of this new mortgage scheme tomorrow, she will now need to have savings of 10% of the loan to avail of a mortgage under this scheme. The Minister will need to look at that.

I welcome the fact that under this scheme mortgages are available at a very good low interest rate, but how will people come up with additional savings to avail of these loans? How can people come up with the extra savings? It is just not doable.

I recognise the first-time buyers savings scheme, account taken of rent payments in mortgage approval and of course, the new tenant purchase scheme. The new tenant purchase scheme that came into effect in 2016 is not working. Unless there is an income of 50% coming into the house, one cannot qualify for it. I had an elderly lady who lived in a local authority house all of her life. She worked, she retired just before this scheme came into effect and she had a pension and lump sum. She had a lump sum to pay for the house but because there was not 50% income coming into the house, she could not buy it. Who is thinking up the terms of these schemes? Many simple issues need to be addressed. The Minister, together with his officials can work with the local authorities on these issues. I know the Minister arranged a summit with the chief executives of all the local authorities. These are issues that could be worked on.

We have been working on the five pillars for the past few months. Housing is an issue of concern for many, from the homeless person to those who will not qualify to go on the housing list and those who could avail of the new Rebuilding Ireland Home loan. I know all schemes have teething problems, but we need to address them. Unless we get the issues sorted things will not get better for working people.