Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I broadly welcome the Bill and commend the Minister on the efforts that he and his Department are making to promote the development of a more sustainable housing system in Ireland. I am aware that much positive work has been done but we have a great deal more to do.I look forward to engaging constructively with the Minister and his Department to ensure that we achieve a housing system that is more fair, equitable and sustainable. I eagerly await the day when the word "housing" will not be followed immediately by the word "crisis" in this Chamber, as has been the case. We have a significant challenge on our hands in responding to and resolving this crisis. This Bill will go only so far in doing so.

I welcome many of the provisions of the Bill but do so while maintaining that we should, and could, be doing more to alleviate the unprecedented pressures on renters and the rental market. Capping rent increases at 2% per annum in RPZs or at the rate of general inflation, depending on which is lower, is better than the existing alternative. I am concerned, however, that it will not result in any material reduction in the cost of rent around the country. It still permits landlords to increase rents year on year and will continue to see rents rise. Rents are too expensive to begin with, so our focus ought to be on what we can do to put an immediate end to spiralling rents while we implement strategies that will see the cost of rental accommodation reduced.

Many colleagues in this House have called for a rent freeze as a possible short-term or medium-term solution. I want to add my voice to the call. While the Government has advised of its concern regarding the constitutionality of implementing a rent freeze, a precedent exists in the form of the implementation of a 24-month rental review period by the Government in 2015, which amounted to a de factorent freeze. What is preventing us from reintroducing longer rent review periods to stifle the exorbitant rents we are seeing across the country?

The establishment of RPZs in 2016 was a welcome development. In the years since, we have seen many local authority and local electoral areas across the country designated as RPZs, but I note that none has been designated since September of last year. This is surprising considering the impact the pandemic has had on the delivery of new rental accommodation and the strain it has placed on units in both urban and rural areas. If it is the case that local areas are not fulfilling the criteria to be designated as RPZs, it is worthwhile revisiting the criteria with a view to including more electoral areas as RPZs.

We must also pause to query the efficacy of RPZs themselves. A recent Daft.iereport advised that rents were 6.8% higher nationally in quarter 3 of 2021 than in the same quarter last year. Additionally, we are aware that landlords regularly avail of several loopholes to circumvent the RPZ designation, with many landlords terminating tenancies on section 34 grounds and then re-letting their properties for rents greater than the RPZ would permit. Despite the Minister having acknowledged this is an issue, only 29 sanctions were issued by the RTB to landlords who breached the RPZ regulations in 2020. The housing charity, Threshold, recently published the results of a study it undertook that found that fewer than half of tenancy terminations by landlords were valid under the regulations. Has the Minister considered, or can he commit to considering, directing more resources to the RTB to ensure greater oversight of properties within RPZs and landlords who disregard the regulations?

I welcome the Bill's provision for tenancies of unlimited duration, as committed to by the Government in Housing for All. I am aware that many housing bodies and charities have been calling for this provision for some time. I hope this part of the Bill will provide some security for renters. However, the reality is that in circumstances in which we continue to provide significant scope for landlords to end tenancies, security of tenure will continue to evade renters across the country. The provision, therefore, is a welcome development, but I am of the view that we should be doing more to provide much-needed security for renters.

I want to speak about the supply of rental accommodation nationally. Daft.ierecently reported that the number of available units to rent in Dublin was the lowest ever recorded in quarter 3 of 2021, while the number of rental units available outside Dublin and other Irish cities has halved over the past 12 months. While the provisions in this Bill are better than those they intend to replace, they are not going to affect the predominant contributor to sky-high rents and the rental accommodation crisis, which is the lack of supply of accommodation.

I am aware that the Minister and Department have set targets for the completion of housing units in Housing for All, but we really need to begin to see concrete action on the development of housing of all types and tenures. If we do not increase the supply of housing units, we will never have a housing system that is fair, of appropriate quality or affordable. There is an entire generation of young people in Ireland who do not know of anything other than a housing market in crisis. That is sad but we must retain our focus on what we can do to ensure this crisis is not replicated for future generations. We must not allow for the targets in Housing for All to be missed. However, we must also ensure that we continue to plan ambitiously in housing for the sake of our children, grandchildren and generations to follow. I look forward to working constructively with the Minister and his Department to ensure that we make much-needed progress in this area once and for all.