Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Seanad Éireann: notes with concern that:

- the cost of renting in the State has approximately doubled in the last decade;

- the cost of rent and mortgage repayments are having a significant impact on people’s financial security, with approximately 20% of the population being at risk of poverty when rent and mortgage payments are deducted from disposable income, with this figure rising to 55% in the case of those in receipt of a housing assistance payment;

- rising rent prices and no-fault evictions are a major cause of homelessness in Ireland, with 58% of families entering homelessness doing so due to no-fault evictions, rising rents or poor standards of accommodation;

- the number of homeless adults nationally has increased by 226% between December 2014 and December 2021;

- as of December 2021, there were 1,077 families with 2,451 children living in emergency accommodation in Ireland;

- as of December 2021, 22% of families in emergency accommodation in the Dublin region had been there for more than two years, and 39% of families had been there for more than one year;

- Travellers make up almost half of the number of homeless individuals in some counties, while other minority ethnicities experience significant discrimination in accessing housing in Ireland;

- households headed by lone parents, the majority of whom are women, make up 53% of homeless families in the State;

- Ireland has a stock of approximately 180,000 vacant homes, with at least 4,000 of these being owned by local authorities;

- one third of people with a disability in Ireland are affected by housing deprivation;

further notes:

- the Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in access to housing;

- that under Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, where parents or carers are unable to provide a decent standard of living that is good enough to meet a child’s physical and social needs, and their healthy development, the State is compelled to assist by providing ‘material assistance and support’ with particular regard to ‘nutrition, clothing and housing’;

- that Ireland, having ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, has obligations under that Convention in respect of access and choice in housing for disabled people and the wider promotion of universal design;

recognises:

- that housing is a basic human need, and when individuals are deprived of this need it has significant implications for their health and wellbeing, and their social and emotional development;

- that housing can have the capacity to help shape who we are and where we stand in society, therefore it can exacerbate intergenerational poverty and inequality;

- that people have a right to live in a vibrant, accessible urban environment, free from vacancy and dereliction;

- the profound harm caused to individuals, families, and communities by the financialisation and commodification of housing in the State, and by enabling vulture funds and other predatory financial actors to gain control over homes;

- the traumatic impact of living in emergency accommodation on individuals, particularly in respect of their mental health and wellbeing, and that this impact is especially pronounced in children living in emergency accommodation;

- the trauma experienced by those living in Direct Provision, and their profound neglect at the hands of the State and companies who profit from the system;

- the violation of human rights and culture which has occurred as a result of the failure to provide culturally appropriate and adequate accommodation for Irish Travellers;

- the benefits of pursuing housing policies that promote the development of diverse, sustainable and intergenerational communities made up of people from different walks of life and different family types;

- that it is within the capacity and means of the State to solve the housing crisis;

and calls on the Government to:

- commit to the de-financialisation of housing as a core principle of future housing policy, and implement the recommendations of the ‘Report on the financialisation of housing and the right to adequate housing’ by the UN Special Rapporteur;

- end the State’s over-reliance on the private market to address the shortcomings in Irish housing in recent decades, by committing to the establishment of a State-owned and operated construction company and investing radically in the development of public homes on public land;

- take immediate action to bring the 4,000 vacant council houses owned by local authorities into use;

- increase the provision of secure, social and public cost rental tenancies, end current reliance on private rental subsidy assistance payments, and take measures to cap and reduce rents;

- take measures to provide greater security for tenants, strengthen protections from evictions, and provide increased resources to agencies responsible for the investigation and enforcement of unlawful evictions;

- phase out and ultimately end State reliance on family hubs and private emergency accommodation within the next 12-months, and ensure that emergency accommodation does not form part of the future response to medium and long-term housing needs;

- recognise the traumatic impact of homelessness on the individuals and families affected, and commit to providing increased investment in wraparound supports for individuals and families affected by homelessness;

- develop gender-responsive policies to the housing crisis which specifically respond to the particular challenges experienced by groups such as lone parents, the majority of whom are women;

- take immediate action to deliver on its commitment to end Direct Provision, as set out in the White Paper on Direct Provision, and in particular to commit to the end of institutionalisation and profiteering in the asylum system, with all Phase Two own-door accommodation being operated by non-profit entities;

- fully vindicate the housing rights of disabled persons under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and particularly to ensure that universal design is core to any new housing developments in the State;

- undertake an urgent audit of living conditions in all Traveller-specific accommodation, to take urgent action to address any deficiencies identified, and to establish a National Traveller Accommodation Authority to oversee the long-term development and implementation of Traveller accommodation; and

- broaden the State’s definition of homelessness to include those living in insecure or inappropriate institutional accommodation, the ‘hidden homeless’, and individuals and families in receipt of housing assistance payments."

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, for being here. To give some context to this motion, over many years and in many different ways we have all tried to address the different facets of the housing crisis, taking in everything from the rental market to social housing to homelessness in the context of emergency accommodation. We have been working on a motion for a while and last week or the week before we were quite struck by the work of Housing Action Now with the artists and in collaboration with people most affected by the policies of governments' past and future policies, I suppose, as well.

Imagine for a moment all those times we have heard apologies or acknowledgements of what has happened in the past, with people being so negatively impacted by different crises or negative outcomes of policy over the years or decades. I want people to imagine that if I or anybody else were the Taoiseach and we watched the Dáil proceedings or the 6 o'clock news, what would such an apology would look and feel like. The Civil Engagement Group has always strived to ensure representation of minority voices or the voices in general of civil society. They must be put on the record in the Chamber and we try to be the vehicle to bring in those voices. I could have opened by speaking specifically about policy. I am sure everybody else will do that. However, I want to imagine the apology and speak to the people directly:

Housing is a human right and a basic human need and I, and many in power before me have failed in our roles to ensure every individual living in this country has access to good-quality, secure and affordable homes. I am sorry to the thousands of people on social housing lists in this country, every adult and child in emergency accommodation in hotels, hostels and shelters. To every adult and child in direct provision. To those staying with friends and family, living in each other's back gardens and sleeping on couches. To those who have relocated miles from where they work, forced to spend hours a day commuting.

To those paying extortionate rents and to those who cannot afford to save for a mortgage. To those in negative equity. To the older people who remortgage to help someone else secure a home. To the young people stuck in parents' homes or who have made a decision to emigrate. To the Traveller community whose nomadic way of life has been criminalised. To those disabled people, regardless of their impairments, who cannot secure an appropriate home to meet their needs. To those in abusive relationships who cannot leave because of the fear they will be on the street. And to those living on our nation's streets and to those who have died on our streets, I stand before you today to give to you the apology that you deserve.

To Brendan, who feels like he is living on a trapdoor with a rope around his neck, at the mercy of landlords who ignore complaints about filthy carpets and broken showers, cold water and cold air howling through the cracked windows. Landlords who hike up the rent when they are challenged about the mould that is growing as fast as his children. Landlords who finally issue an eviction notice leaving Brendan and his family 48 days to rearrange their lives. Brendan questions his decision to have come back from his life abroad, to bring his partner and children to the city he grew up in, the city of 100,000 welcomes.

To Alya, whose family received an eviction notice months before her Leaving Cert. Her studying time was replaced by hours on the phone trying to find a room for three children and two adults. Alya spent every evening in the library making use of the Wi-Fi, but one night she missed her curfew to study for a science exam and was put in a hostel room with eight strangers. She was scared and shaken and saw someone overdose. Alya blames herself for getting lost in her studies that evening, and she now talks to her sisters just once a week.

To Kevin, who was living in a hub and planning to kill himself, no longer able to cope with the size of the room once a new cot had been set up, the intensity of living with a pregnant partner, the smell of the food from the canteen where they had to eat. The stress, the worry, wondering will this ever get better, kept alive by the love he has for his baby daughter in her tiny little shoes. Not wanting to leave her there and never wanting her to know that she was born in a hub.

To Mary, who only wants a safe haven, a place to hang the framed picture of her boy on his first day of school, with his blue glasses and his snowy white hair. She's been on the housing list for her son's whole life. She checks once a week online, praying that she has moved up on the list, but her number has only moved once in three years. Mary was given the options: to go homeless, to go into emergency accommodation or take an apartment with a kicked-in door and a gang selling drugs outside. Lonely and isolated, Mary feels like she has been dumped in hell and forgotten.

To David, who is no longer young and who misses his hurley stick, which is in his parents' house here in Ireland while he lives abroad. He wants to come back but can't afford to live on his own and is depressed at the prospect of a house share at his age. Feeling trapped outside the high wall that's being built around affordable housing and missing family conversations, puc abouts and the smell of cut grass.

To Paddy, who remembers the New Year's Eve party that he and his wife were at when someone explained the term negative equity, and now, in mortgage arrears, every year on his children's birthday, Paddy counts another year in debt, and he wishes that debt a happy birthday. He is haunted by the memory of the day when he and his wife realised they can't afford to have another child. And he has gotten used to seeing his wife cry for that child. Paddy finally told his wife about his idea to kill himself and heard she had a similar idea. He often finds himself returning to his childhood memories so he can recall what a secure home feels like.

It is important to remember that each and every contribution quoted is a real-life story contributed to this project. We should continue to think about that when we speak about policy because sometimes, when we get lost in the policy, it can be a cold instrument, and it is always better to remember what that policy means in real-life terms.