Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. Fianna Fáil will be supporting the extension of the protections for renters up until 13 July, as this Bill proposes. It is important that we are very clear with renters. I deal with people every day who are either homeless, at risk of becoming homeless or in inadequate housing. Unfortunately my constituency is one that has suffered from the decade of under-provision of housing. I know how valuable the protections this Government has, rightly, afforded renters during the pandemic are. At no time has home been more important than during this pandemic and the protections have provided those lucky enough to have a home with a safe place. However, the fact that the Government had to allocate more than €220 million for homeless prevention and emergency accommodation only underlines how real the housing crisis is for far too many of our citizens. The housing crisis has not gone away.

I have not been as far as the M50 since before Christmas. I would love to see the 5 km limit ended. I envy the Members who come from the countryside and I fantasise about stowing into the boot of their car and getting out of the city, much as I love it. In all seriousness, the indications from industry are that this delay and shutdown in construction is going to cost us about 10,000 housing units. The crisis is very real. This Bill will extend the protections for renters, which would have expired if we on the housing committee had asserted our right to conduct pre-legislative scrutiny. That would have had catastrophic effects - that is the exact term that was used - because the protections that are in place up until 13 April would have expired. Now we are extending them until 13 July. I accept the Minister of State's bona fides and those of the Department that they will continue to monitor this situation.

It is incredibly important that we also get a clear message to people outside this Chamber that the State and the Government have their back and are there to support them. I commend everyone in the local authorities, Threshold, the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, the Intreo offices and all those who have worked on the front line during this pandemic, who have supported people applying for the housing assistance payment, HAP, rent allowance, homeless HAP or supplementary welfare payments.They have provided invaluable support to individuals and families. Many homeless people are single. They are isolated and vulnerable, so they appreciate the support they have received, including from NGOs and their key workers, all of whom have been a lifeline to people in housing distress throughout this period. I look forward to a day when we can start to think beyond the pandemic.

We must use our time in the Oireachtas to leave something behind that keeps those who follow us from having to deal with the same issues. We need systemic change in the State's approach to housing. The Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, understand that. I commend them both on securing the largest housing budget in the history of the State at €3.3 billion, but we will need to go much further than that. There has been an undersupply of homes over the past ten years. The Minister of State and the Minister's jobs did not come with magic wands and the pandemic has hit them, too. As such, I appreciate that their backs are against the wall, but the dynamic must be changed for our citizens. The Government is introducing legislation that will prioritise the use of public land for the provision of public housing. That needs to be social and affordable housing. Our local authorities have been restricted to just social housing, but we need to prioritise the affordable housing Bill and the Land Development Agency Bill so that local authorities, AHBs and not-for-profit NGOs can, as soon as the pandemic is over, be put to work delivering affordable housing, not just social housing.

Affordable housing must be affordable to purchase and rent. As the Minister of State and I know, the proposed affordable rental scheme gives people great hope. It means that renters will only pay rents that cover the cost of maintaining and managing their homes. That is how it should be – secure, affordable and good-quality homes provided by the State on State lands.

We have gone through a shutdown and I am sure the Government has not been able to spend as much of its housing budget as was allocated. I urge the Minister of State to ask the Cabinet to consider increasing the allocation to the affordable rental scheme. I understand why it was set at that level, but circumstances change and we need to change with them. I call on the Minister of State to seek a doubling of the scheme's budget. It would be a sound investment and give hope to many renters.

I am conscious that my time is running out. The programme for Government commits to establishing a commission on housing. Whenever we discuss trying to implement protections so that every citizen has a secure and affordable place to call home, the Seanad and the Minister of State as a Government Member need to champion an amendment to the Constitution so that it is updated to reflect the current and future social ambition that we all share for each citizen to have a secure and affordable place to call home. Will the Minister of State take this message to the Cabinet so that, as we move forward over the next three years, we do so in the context of seeking a mandate from the people for an amendment to insert in the Constitution the right to housing and we can give expression to what I consider to be a current social value to which we all subscribe, that being, that every citizen deserves his or her own home?