Nessa Cosgrove (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome. I echo what Senators Noonan and Andrews have said. This is not an easy task and we all need the Minister to succeed in his role. The release of the latest record homelessness figures showed that there are 158 adults in Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal in emergency accommodation along with 16 families, including 43 children. We have outlined all the problems here and it is clear that the Government’s approach is not working. Surely it is madness for us to continue to pursue a policy direction that is taking us from a housing crisis to a condition of permanent and chronic disaster. The need for social housing is phenomenal. More people are entitled to and seeking social housing than ever. Only this morning, Ocean FM reported on a report from Donegal County Council which identified the need for 430 more social homes in south Donegal alone.

A 2023 summary of housing assessments published by the Housing Agency clearly tells us that more people are entitled to social housing. It said that about 40% of people on the housing list are in private rented accommodation and are in receipt of support payments such as HAP. As minimum standards apply to all private rentals, people living in private rentals theoretically receive the protection of the Residential Tenancies Board when it comes to the standard of their housing. However, not all of these standards apply to social homes supplied by approved housing bodies or local authorities, and they should. As Senator Andrews said, people in social housing do not deserve to be treated like second-class citizens. I was contacted last week by a tenant of a local authority home in Sligo. She is a proud person who does not like to complain or ask for help but the situation had become so bad that she felt she had no option but to reach out. Her home is draughty with old timber-framed windows. Having shrunk, the wooden door no longer fits snugly to its frame and there are gaps with the wild Atlantic wind blowing straight in everywhere. This lady’s home is impossible to heat no matter how much money she throws into it. If this were a private tenancy, the landlord would quite rightly be issued with an enforcement notice by Sligo County Council and the landlord would be given nine weeks to bring the property up to an acceptable standard, but because it is a council tenancy there is no such recourse.I know this from being a councillor myself. I contacted Sligo County Council to see what could be done. While the staff were understanding of the tenant's situation and empathetic to her needs, they are hampered by two things, the lack of staff directly employed by Sligo County Council and the lack of funds to carry out the necessary remedial works. I know from having been a councillor that the lack of people directly employed to look at small maintenance works means these are often ignored until big grant schemes come into play and then the situation continually gets worse. None of us, in our own homes, would do that and let a problem get worse and worse. There is also a severe lack of funding for housing improvements because the money that comes in from tenancies is often used up and is often the only money they get. I urge the Minister to look at properly resourcing all the local authorities, at least to take care of the stock we have so that people can live in their homes in a comfortable and heated way.