Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Residential Tenancies Board reports that there are approximately 520 approved housing bodies in Ireland with a stock size of more than 30,000 homes. These bodies tend to deal with the housing needs of either a particular geographical area or a particular demographic, including families on low incomes, households with special needs such as older persons and people with disabilities, homeless households, and persons in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction or a combination of both. While recognising that many of these bodies are responsible for great work being done, can it really be the case that the operation of 520 separate and sometimes competing housing bodies is the most efficient way to tackle the housing crisis? Surely this is a textbook case of too many cooks. Every single one of these bodies has a chief executive, managers, secretarial staff, and community liaison. How many paycheques are signed every week for people working in the charity public housing sector? How profitable is it to work in the area of solving Ireland's housing crisis? The largest of these, the Peter McVerry Trust, confirmed last year that it owes €8.3 million to Revenue, prompting the Government to establish a statutory investigation into its finances and governance. The trust is now being bailed out to the tune of €15 million. Among the 520 housing bodies, how many do we think would have discrepancies revealed by an investigation into their finances and governance? I reckon that a full audit is needed of Ireland's approved housing bodies. We need to know how much money is being given to these not-for-profit organisations tasked with relieving housing need, by which I mean solving the problem that keeps them in business. The provision of social housing within a local electoral area should be the remit of the elected members of that local authority with the assistance and co-operation of the Executive. Government reliance on the NGO sector must decrease and the money and power divested to our local authorities.