Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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I wish to raise the issue of resourcing for the housing department of Limerick City and County Council, specifically the need for a dedicated team to drive affordable housing targets forward. Right now, the same staff are trying to keep their social housing targets on track while also having to share time to keep their affordable housing projects up to speed. Clearly, this is neither ideal nor sustainable. I will set out the context for what we are dealing with in Limerick so the Minister of State will understand the extent of the housing emergency. Homelessness figures have gone up to 10,805, including 3,220 children, throughout the State. The number of homeless children in need of emergency accommodation in the mid-west last August saw a 251% increase in the same period last year.

Rents are rising. The figure for Limerick is €1,400, which is way above housing assistance payment, HAP, limits. I took a look at daft.ietoday. Just seven properties are available on daft.ie, three of which are completely out of the price range of any normal family. The HAP allowance is just €650 for a couple with one child but a two-bedroom apartment will cost them €1,500 per month. The HAP allowance for a single person is just €420 but a studio apartment in Limerick will cost him or her €1,300 per month, so there is no reality when it comes to the allowances and the soaring cost of rents in Limerick. We are running out of options for emergency accommodation. Indeed the homeless action teams have told us this. We also have the phenomenon of adult children stuck living their adult lives with their parents.

I think the Minister of State will agree with me that Limerick City and County Council has a huge task on its hands. Looking at the targets towards which it is working, approved homes are at 42% of the five-year target of 2,138 new homes. In other words, the council has a deficit of 1,247. I understand the focus for this year and next year is to acquire more land and gain more approvals to ensure the targets are met, but frankly, the council is nowhere near being able to do that as things stand. Again, the targets are particularly poor in some areas. In Castleconnell, where I live, there are 443 applicants and the current plan is for five new social or council houses. That is an appalling target.

We need significant additional resources within Limerick City and County Council to deal with this. An application was submitted to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for funding for a dedicated affordable housing team in March 2022. It begs the following question. In the middle of a housing emergency, how long does it take the Department to make an approval? I heard from my colleague Councillor Sharon Benson today that, coincidentally, the council received a decision today regarding additional new staff.

Why has it taken seven months to make a simple decision to add resources to Limerick City and County Council? Furthermore, I understand the council made a request initially for 12 additional staff and then reduced it to ten, but what has been granted by the Government is just staffing of four, of which two are already in place, so after seven months of waiting, the decision of the Government is to add just two additional staff members. The Minister of State should bear in mind that once that funding is approved, as it apparently was this morning, we are probably looking at a further six months to advertise and interview and for people to give notice and actually fill those positions.It has taken more than a year, during the worst housing emergency we have ever seen, for a decision to be made and for the relative follow-up to happen.

The Government’s Housing for All plan is not working. Overall targets for new social and affordable homes are falling short throughout the country, and that is no wonder. If every other council is waiting on resources just like that in Limerick, the national targets will continue to be missed.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for his question regarding the application by Limerick City and County Council for a dedicated affordable homes team. In September 2021, the Government published its Housing for All strategy, which sets out plans to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 homes per annum over the next decade. Increasing the supply of affordable housing is a central element of Housing for All, with an ambition to deliver more than 55,000 new affordable and cost-rental homes in the period 2022 to 2030, with 28,730 of those homes being delivered over the next five years.

Housing for All is supported by a major investment package of more than €4 billion per annum through an overall combination of €12 billion in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5 billion in funding through the Land Development Agency and €5 billion in funding through the Housing Finance Agency. With the support of the housing delivery co-ordination office in the Local Government Management Agency, the Department undertook a review of the requirements for affordable housing staff resources in 18 local authorities with an identified strong demand for housing from households with an affordability constraint. Limerick City and County Council was one of those councils.

The housing delivery co-ordination office undertook a detailed analysis with each local authority to assess its existing housing delivery capacity and skill set and identified any additional staffing requirements, having regard to the level of affordable housing to be delivered in that local authority. Key consideration has been given to the type of structure and administrative or professional staff necessary to deliver affordable housing, the scale of the delivery programmes and alignment with the additional support provided for social housing delivery earlier in 2022. The staffing required and identified for Limerick is divided into both administrative and professional staffing grades and a higher requirement in most areas for administrative support is acknowledged due to the operation of the various schemes in terms of agreements, engagement with eligible applicants and other, longer term requirements.

Limerick City and County Council has developed a housing delivery action plan to underpin its delivery of social, affordable-purchase and cost-rental housing in the period to 2026. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage recently approved an application by Limerick City and County Council for funding of €1.8 million for 25 affordable homes in Castletroy, Limerick, under the affordable housing fund, which will be delivered in 2023. An application is ongoing with Limerick City and County Council for a dedicated homes team, notice of which the Senator received today. I have no doubt that any additional staff Limerick City and County Council receives will help expedite its efforts to deliver new affordable homes in key locations throughout the city and wider county.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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I acknowledge that the Minister of State is handed a script to read out in response to these Commencement matters but, with respect, I request an answer as to why it has taken the Government seven months to decide to appoint new staff. Moreover, why has that decision been taken to appoint just two additional staff given Limerick City and County Council requested a team of ten, given it has been well acknowledged that the council, like so many other councils, is way behind its targets and given it has also been acknowledged that the Government is way behind its targets? Indeed, its target this year for social and affordable housing was 9,200 homes but at the halfway point it had delivered just 1,966. Similarly, its target for affordable housing was 2,100 but it had reached fewer than 700 by the halfway point of the year.

With the crisis getting worse month by month, how can the Minister of State explain the seven-month delay in appointing essential staff for the council, and where does this leave the people of Limerick, who are already in despair at the housing crisis? Are we looking at a future of adult children living adult lives in their parents' homes? Is that the best the Government can offer?

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I must correct the Senator; the Government is on target to meet its social housing numbers this year. We are almost approaching the figure of 9,000 new social units having been added, which will be the key to resolving so many housing issues for our citizens, and we are on course to build in excess of 25,000 homes this year, which will meet our target.That will be critical in implementing the Housing for All strategy. It is important to correct the record on that. The notion that we have only built in excess of 1,500 homes this year is almost farcical.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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There were only 980 from 2020 and 2021.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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The Senator should allow the Minister of State to finish.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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There are 31 local authorities in the country. The Affordable Housing Act was put through this year and the fund was established. It is key to ensuring we will not be behind in making sure all local authorities have the resources. In many areas it is not about the resources; it is about councils getting good applications in and having their land serviced and ready to go for affordable housing.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State is blaming the councils now.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Many can go through private developers and we have seen a number of acquisitions from the affordable housing fund in that regard.