Vol. 946 No. 1
6. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on the level of social housing to be provided on the last council-owned site in Blanchardstown (details supplied) in view of the large number of homeless persons in the area; if such a low level of provision is compulsory under his Department's mixed tenure policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17103/17]
I want to ask the Minister about the mixed tenure policy and, in particular, a case study for it. I refer to the last remaining piece of significant council land that is zoned for housing in the greater Blanchardstown area, which is identified as a homelessness blackspot. North, north west and west Dublin are key locations for homeless families. The pursuance of this policy will see the part privatisation of this last remaining piece of council land.
Under the Government's Rebuilding Ireland action plan, a particular priority attaches to using publicly owned lands for the delivery of housing as quickly as possible. In particular, we need more homes for families and individuals on the social housing waiting list and for those on low to middle incomes.
Increasing and accelerating housing delivery to meet demand across the full spectrum of housing needs is at the heart of Rebuilding Ireland. In terms of social housing, the clear commitment is to deliver 47,000 additional social houses supported by €5.35 billion in Exchequer resources. Other initiatives such as the recent announcement of €225 million of targeted funding to support the delivery of infrastructure to open up both public and private lands for development will help to stimulate wider residential construction activity and bring more new homes to the market.
In terms of State lands, delivering the most housing in the shortest possible timeframe will be supported by the acceleration in State-funded social housing and will also provide more homes for sale and rent at lower and more affordable price points. The scale and mix of housing on individual sites will be dependent on the sites themselves, particularly their scale and the wider housing context in which they are located. In regard to the site referred to by the Deputy, I understand that the council intends to develop a fully integrated, mixed tenure community in the area, including a large element of social housing. The final breakdown of the tenure mix will be determined as part of the master-planning process and my Department will work closely with Fingal County Council in considering any proposals ultimately brought forward by the council.
Those proposals will be voted on by the local authority members. In respect of other sites in Dublin, they have made quite wise decisions about trying to develop them and bring forward a mix of private and social housing and affordable properties, and rightly so. That will really benefit the community. There are other land banks in the Fingal County Council area on which it will bring forward major plans which we will support. We are very strong on this ambition to have mixed use tenure and I think it is something the Deputy would like to support.
We are talking about 90 acres of council land. There is no other land that is zoned for housing, apart from in-fill spots in existing estates. We have a massive housing crisis. The Deputy has said that he wants to provide these units as quickly as possible. There is no reason that this could not be provided if the council maintains full development of it as quickly as possible. For low and middle incomes, the reality is that there will be less social housing delivered under this policy. I have checked with a council official and was told that 1,500 units could be put in this land if it was fully developed in that way. What will happen now is that the council will only get 30% of those units, 50% will go to the private developer and 20% will be what are called affordable rental that will be priced at around 80% of the market rate, around €1,100 or €1,200. The people renting will be the low and middle income people the Minister of State is talking about. A previous Deputy asked why the Government is so dead set against having mixed occupancy by having social housing but having affordable mortgages where low income workers would be able to avail of a good, cheap mortgage, as many of us had the chance to do with the council before.
We are not against that at all. We are in favour of it.
Do it here then.
The Deputy said there is capacity for 1,500 units. The Minister, the Department and I agree, as would most people, that it would be wrong to put 1,500 social housing on that site. The site is probably best designed for around 1,000 housing units at medium development, which the Deputy would encourage as we have discussed developments in that area before here. The target at this moment is roughly 1,000. The local authority, Fingal County Council, and the members will decide what is the best development mix across the whole spectrum of housing. That is their job. They will bring forward the proposals to us as part of a master plan. We will encourage the local authority to develop the site as quickly as possible and we will help with the funding of that. The local authorities will do that, not the Deputy or I. It will assess the local area and judge what is the best development for that site. The Deputy claimed there are no other sites in the area. Fingal County Council has 81 ha at its disposal which it will work on in the years ahead.
Not in this area.
The local authority will be the best judge of this and will bring forward the right mix. We will work with it on that. That will include a top class layout and affordable houses as well.
There are no other sites in the greater Blanchardstown area. It has a population of 100,000 people. All the other sites the Deputy speaks of are north of Fingal. Some smaller sites are being developed with 20 or 30 houses. I live right beside this location, and what could be done here is that 1,000 units could be developed. Some 50% of them could be social housing and 50% could be affordable mortgages. The Minister of State seems to think that that is a problem. I live in an estate of 750 units where the council did this. It is a mixture of affordable mortgages. There were 400 affordable mortgages, 100 council tenants and 200 were sold privately. In this scenario, we need to fast track affordable housing. I have no problem having a mix of different types of people, but let us do it by keeping it in public control, where people can avail of a mortgage rather than paying 80% of what are unaffordable rents. Most of these people are going to be on the council's housing list and are going to be paying a huge mortgage when somebody next door has a differential rent. It is lunacy.
With regard to support, we will be pressuring Sinn Féin, in particular, which knows what the housing crisis is, to back this proposal. Something can exist in theory, but in practice this area is a homelessness blackspot.
It is not theory. It is international best practice, and it is best practice that we have been using here for a number of years. It has not been made up over the last couple of months.
Our colleagues in Sinn Féin recognise that and have voted accordingly on other sites around Dublin. Most people are genuinely committed to mixed-use tenure across these sites.
By half-prioritising it?
They are genuinely committed to delivering houses quickly and I am not convinced the Deputy is genuinely committed to that cause. We want to reach these targets and we will achieve them. The Deputy is committed to a different agenda and that is up to her, but we are following international best practice.
I live in a mixed-tenure estate.
7. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will recommend that the changed plan be resubmitted for public consultation in view of the fact that the Celbridge local area plan has changed significantly since it was first advertised for public consultation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16795/17]
The Celbridge local area plan went on display over Christmas and during the month of January and there were 2,700 submissions, including one from the Minister's Department. The plan has fundamentally changed on foot of the submission from the Department and I am seeking a provision to go back to the drawing board and put the plan back on public display so that people will have the opportunity to comment on it. It does not just have modifications - it is very different from what people saw originally.
The draft Celbridge local area plan 2017-23 was prepared by Kildare County Council and was placed on statutory public display between 13 December 2016 and 3 February 2017. In my capacity as a statutory consultee to the local area plan process, I made a written submission to Kildare County Council under section 20 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 on 3 February 2017.
In my submission, the council was advised of certain objectives of national planning policy and ministerial planning guidelines that the draft local area plan must be fully in accordance with. The council was requested to address a number of highlighted issues in the subsequent material alterations stage of the local area plan process.
The decision to alter a draft local area plan that has been on public display is a reserved function of the members of the planning authority concerned under section 20(3)(e) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 and, if the members decide that amendments are appropriate, then the amended draft local area plan must go back on display for public consultation.
The report of the chief executive of Kildare County Council on submissions received on foot of the public display of the above mentioned draft local area plan has been issued to the elected members and the report will be considered by a future meeting of the planning authority. Should the planning authority decide to amend the draft local area plan, as a statutory consultee I will be circulated with particulars of such material amendments and I may make a further submission to the statutory process.
I do not consider it would be appropriate for me to comment further on the matter, pending the completion of the statutory local area plan process under section 20 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 by Kildare County Council.
I am not asking the Minister to comment on the substance of the changes but there are some 6,500 houses in Celbridge, which have been built over several decades, and the proposal is to add another 3,200 houses to them over a seven-year period. The town is already struggling in the areas of social and physical infrastructure and it is a huge amount to absorb over a short period. People were asked to comment and made a large number of contributions. What they saw and what they will now see are radically different because of the submission by the Department. I have read the manager's report and the submission has shaped the changes to the plan. It has shifted 1,400 units from one side of the town to the other. I do not wish to comment, negatively or positively, on whether that is a good thing but is it fair that the public is being asked to comment on something that is radically different from what is under consideration by members?
Some of the concerns outlined by the Deputy are probably shared by my Department. In the draft local area plan I was required to consider an amendment to ensure that the proper spatial development of the town, with respect to established public transport infrastructure and in tandem with the required supporting infrastructure, actually happened. The council was requested to provide for the relocation of the zoning of housing lands in the south eastern environs of the town in the vicinity of Hazelhatch train station. It was also asked to provide an implementation and infrastructure delivery schedule in the local area plan which would ensure that new development was clearly phased on the basis of the timely delivery of new strategic infrastructure for the town. We have inputted into the process and it is up to the local authority to make sure it abides by the legislation. If the Deputy wants me to talk about it in detail afterwards, I will be happy to do so.
I can understand the sustainability argument in respect of transport but there are other issues of sustainability in respect of the quantum of new houses in an area that is already struggling from the point of view of infrastructure. If the proposed quantum is pursued, I predict that it will not be realised because of the constraints. It simply gives the impression that something can be done.
I will take the opportunity to talk to the Minister about it afterwards because it is an unsatisfactory process from the point of view of the public's understanding and its ability to buy into the planning process. This is the only opportunity the public has, particularly now that changes are going to happen in respect of developments of over 100 units being decided by An Bord Pleanála.
In accordance with Standing Orders, I will allow Deputy Durkan a short supplementary question.
Is the Minister fully aware of the infrastructural needs of the area, such as the substantial road and bridge realignments? The area to which the zoning has been diverted has been subject to severe flooding in past years on more than one occasion. There is a need for an urgent drainage and irrigation plan to be incorporated into the plan. I agree that the plan should go on display again because there are fundamental changes to what was previously discussed by the local authority
First and foremost, there is a responsibility on local government, the planning authority and councillors to make sure they get these things right. When local area or county development plans come to my Department we sometimes have to ask for material changes. Sometimes this does not go down too well but it is necessary to make sure the planning process is in compliance with national planning strategy and legislation. Lands that are prone to flooding will be part of that consideration. I do not want to predetermine any consideration my Department may give to a local area plan process. We have already inputted into this process and there are statutory obligations on the local planning authority to respond. There is a process around decision making but that is why we have devolved powers to local government. There are interventions at a national level, where appropriate, but first and foremost the responsibility to get the balance right between infrastructure, open space, housing density, responding to housing need and other things such as avoiding flood plains with large housing developments, which did not happen enough in the past, falls to local planning authorities.
We will take Question No. 9 and return to Question No. 8 afterwards.
9. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of local authority new housing starts initiated by each local authority in the past 12 months; the number of local authorities, if any, awaiting the start of such housing starts; the extent to which the seriousness of the housing shortage has manifested itself in terms of homelessness in each of the local authorities; the degree to which each authority has successfully sourced alternative or emergency accommodation in the same period; if it is expected they will take emergency steps such as the provision of modular housing in order to address the emerging situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17110/17]
My question relates to the ongoing, in fact burgeoning, housing shortage in County Kildare with particular reference to the urgent need to deal with recurring homelessness. We must deal with people who find themselves homeless as a result of a variety of issues and have no place to go, with families having to book and rebook into hotels. In some cases, families with children who have special needs have to vacate at the drop of a hat.
I thank the Deputy for the question. My Department published a comprehensive list of all social housing construction schemes that were advancing nationwide at end of the fourth quarter of 2016. Over 500 approved schemes were listed that, when completed, will deliver about 8,500 new social homes. The schemes listed include those that are being designed, those currently on site and those completed in 2016. It showed that just over 650 new social houses were built in 2016 and a further 90 schemes, delivering over 1,800 newly built social houses, went on site last year. I am keen that those schemes, which are already approved by my Department, are advanced as soon as possible by the local authorities and approved housing bodies. I have assured them that funding is in place to support this delivery. I have also continued to approve further schemes which are adding to the already strong pipeline.
Local authorities are taking other actions to respond to housing need and meet the needs of homeless people within their areas. These include targeted acquisitions, the new repair and leasing initiative, and rapid-delivery housing. On the latter, my Department is working closely with local authorities and, as well as the 350 rapid-build homes at various stages of progress at end of last year, a further 650 will be advanced in 2017, followed by 500 additional units in 2018.
It should be noted that official homelessness data reports are produced using the pathway accommodation and support system, PASS, the single integrated national data information system on State-funded emergency accommodation arrangements overseen by housing authorities. These data reports are published and made available on my Department's website each month.
As late as last week, as the Deputy knows, we announced a significant funding package for parts of County Kildare to cover infrastructure that is needed to open up housing sites in the right locations. That will certainly help to accelerate some of the projects the Deputy has been advocating.
I thank the Minister for his reply. I acknowledge the work done to date. I realise the amount of preparatory work that is required before the houses are delivered. However, the housing shortage in County Kildare is reaching a position we have not experienced previously. Numerous families are apparently becoming homeless at the same time. On a daily basis, three, four, five or six families report to the local authority begging for accommodation. The local authority is not in a position to build houses overnight.
Using Kildare as an example, perhaps the Minister might make contact with each of the local authorities with a view to identifying how, using modular houses or by whatever means, they can expand the number of houses available in the short term. The problem is with the short term; in two years, we will not have the same problem because building will have caught up with it. However, at the moment we have a serious situation that I have not experienced in my lifetime heretofore. We have all spoken about this issue in this House with the Minister and his predecessor. I am appealing to the Minister to contact the local authorities with a view to identifying how quickly and how many they can deliver.
The Deputy is right that this is all about delivery. I have said on numerous occasions that if I come to the conclusion that local authorities are not able to deliver social housing at the pace we need it, we then need to look at new structures, such as a national housing authority or something like that.
At the moment, to be fair, the vast majority of local authorities are seriously ramping up their delivery programmes. We should not forget there was virtually no money for social housing for quite some time because the country had no money. We did not have the capacity to borrow money to spend on social housing because there were strings attached to how we sourced finance. We are no longer in that position. We have an obligation to increase our housing stock significantly. I intend doing that as fast as we can while ensuring we have good-quality social housing. That is why we significantly increased funding this year over last year. We have seen a 50% increase in housing funding in one year. We will see another dramatic increase next year and the year after. We are ramping up. It takes time to get sites that were dormant up and running and building through tendering processes and all the rest of it. However, that is very much under way now.
I acknowledge all the work that has been done and has to be done still. Some of these things are sent to test us from time to time. The manner in which we deal with emergencies is indicative of what can be done for society at any particular time. I agree that the Minister and his ministerial colleague are doing everything possible to do that now.
The problem is with the urgency. There is an urgent requirement to contact each local authority, particularly in the greater Dublin area, to identify precisely what they can deliver in the next six months. I am told by people who are in the business that they can deliver a modular house on site within three months and that there are serviced sites available. In view of the emergency nature of the situation that is now unfolding, I impress on the Minister to do that now rather than wait until it is forced upon us. The emergency will get to such an extent that it will not be possible to tolerate the degree of pressure arising from those on the waiting list who are out on the road with no place to go.
Under Standing Orders, I call Deputy Catherine Murphy for a short supplementary question.
Regarding the planning system, how that is handled is very patchy. A person presenting as homeless can wait for three weeks to be processed. A lot of homelessness is hidden because family and friends are helping out. In areas outside cities that would not previously have experienced front-line homelessness, the services are very underdeveloped.
In response to Deputy Durkan, we now have a framework for rapid-build housing. I understand that Kildare County Council has been asked to fully exploit the potential of rapid-build housing, but it needs to come back with projects. We now have a central tendering list that has been agreed for companies that have the capacity for modular construction, which is essentially offsite construction, and then they put very good quality houses together. We will see a considerable amount of private and social housing built through offsite construction. I know of at least one facility in County Kildare that has the capacity to do that.
If there are opportunities for Kildare County Council to build social housing projects in a more rapid format, the framework is there to do it now. We will approve the projects if they are good enough and if they are cost effective. There is no excuse now for local authorities not to use rapid-build technologies to build social housing. There is a framework to do it and we want to support it.
8. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to large rent rises in areas adjoining the rent pressure zones; if he will reconsider extending the application and breadth of rent controls; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17106/17]
I want to ask about the progress on rent controls. I take the opportunity to ask the Minister to comment on Monday night's RTE programme on the housing crisis. On rent controls, we are finding that there are rent increases in areas just outside the designated local electoral areas. I notice the Minister designated a further 12 local electoral areas in January, and Cobh and Maynooth were added to the pressure zones last month. However, the pressure zones themselves are causing pressures on other areas. To what extent does the Minister monitor progress on it?
I did not see all of the programme, but I answered questions on Claire Byrne's show afterwards. I was in Waterford that night, but I appeared from the Waterford studio. The young man, who was homeless and who was finding difficulty getting certainty on getting a bed at night, now has certainty. He has access to emergency accommodation and does not have to do it on a nightly basis. Obviously, we want to work with him to get him a much more permanent solution. Some of the other stories were very difficult for the individuals and families concerned.
I am reminded all the time of my responsibilities as the Minister for housing to try to respond on behalf of the State to the needs of the many families under pressure. That programme was another example of it.
It is also important to recognise that we are improving things. There are many more supports for families in mortgage arrears difficulties. Free financial and legal advice is available as well as a revamped mortgage-to-rent scheme. The supports that are available are much better than before. We are also starting to see houses being built again and in the kind of numbers that are starting to move towards meeting demand. We have gone from 12,500 houses two years ago to just over 15,000 houses last year. There will probably be around 19,000 this year. I think we will be up to our target of 25,000 houses in 2018 or 2019 even though the target was for 2021. The truth is that we probably need to go up to 30,000 to 35,000 housing units a year given our current population growth and pressures. Much of it will be social housing as well as private and affordable housing in the right mix.
We will review the effectiveness of rent pressure zones in the summer. Some 57% of rental properties are now in rent pressure zones. As I stated, there was a lot of scepticism on the Opposition benches when we debated the legislation because people thought it would only apply to Dublin and Cork city. Since then we have seen this expand into many other areas and it will continue to do so. If there are issues in relation to neighbouring areas, which people feel may get designated a rent pressure zone-----
Thank you, Minister.
I will come in on it again. I will answer the Deputy.
What do I get? Is it one minute?
A young woman was featured on the programme. Selina Hogan from Ballyfermot will be put out of her house on Easter Monday. Selina is entitled to HAP but cannot get a landlord to take her. The HAP scheme is an abject failure for hundreds of families which cannot access accommodation provided by private landlords who will not take them. We need to examine this carefully because it is continuously leading to families being made homeless. They cannot access the HAP scheme because landlords do not want them. It was also reported to me that REITs say the Minister's system is not working for them. The idea was that these vulture funds would get the houses and the REITs would, through market mechanisms, help to take people off the homeless list. Apparently, REITs are not receiving the HAP from the Department for three or four months and they are not interested in dealing with the Department.
I will return to the issue of rent controls in my final minute.
From what I can see, the HAP scheme is working successfully. If the Deputy has evidence to suggest otherwise, I would like to see it.
I have it and will get it to the Minister.
An additional 15,000 people throughout the country came onto the HAP scheme last year. It was only introduced to Dublin a few weeks ago. The homeless HAP has been working quite successfully.
My colleague tells me that so far this year 467 homeless people have been homed through the homeless HAP. We also have a place finder office in Dublin which specifically helps those who are unable to locate properties where the landlord is willing to accept tenancies under the HAP scheme. It is not perfect all the time but systems are in place to help people. If the Deputy is concerned about individual cases, she should pass them on and we will see what we can do.
The Minister's office will be bombarded with people who come daily to my clinic because they cannot access the HAP scheme. I will send the Minister the cases. I guarantee him that. Many of the people would love to be in my shoes today facing down the Minister because they are so angry with their housing situation.
I will return to the issue of rent controls briefly. I will take, for example, a soft balloon that one might find when cleaning up the day following a party. If, when messing with it, one were to block the air on one side of it, all the air would go into the other side of it and make it burst. This is exactly what is happening in the areas outside the rent pressure zones. I have spoken in the House about bus workers before. They do not earn a huge amount of money. I know of a bus worker who lives just outside Navan and has been told by his landlord that his rent is going from €800 a month to €1,500 in one fell swoop. He cannot afford to stay there. Who could? Certainly not an average worker. This is happening around all the rent zones. The Minister's rent control is not working. What is needed is a review that will take rents back down to 2011 levels. Dublin is becoming more expensive than London to live in. This cannot be maintained.
Under Standing Orders, I will bring in Deputy Jan O'Sullivan.
I tabled Question No. 18 which also relates to rent pressure zones. In particular, I want to raise the issue of cities such as Limerick and Waterford which have not been included as rent pressure zones because they have not satisfied the criteria. The Minister stated there would be a review in the summer, but one of the issues is the use of electoral areas. In one electoral area in my constituency, there is an extensive rural area as well as the most expensive rental properties which are at the edge of the city. I think the same applies in Waterford. Will the Minister examine the use of these local electoral areas? They have mixed rents which keep cities such as Waterford and Limerick from being designated but recent figures show that rents have gone up significantly in Limerick city. This needs to be re-examined.
Areas that are seeing significant rent inflation are likely to come in under the zoning. I would have to get the data for Limerick, which has been published, but my understanding is that parts of Limerick are close to being designated. I take Deputy Bríd Smith's point about areas that are contiguous to rent pressure zones. There may be spillover in terms of landlords feeling that perhaps they are next and that they, therefore, need to put rents up. There are laws in place, however, that prevent them doing that outside of certain parameters. If landlords carry out a rent review and seek to increase the rent, they must get reference rents from similar properties in the area. If tenants are not happy, they can go to the Residential Tenancies Board for a determination of what is fair. This is why we have the Residential Tenancies Act, which was introduced by my predecessor.
Rent pressure zones were quite a blunt tool. To zone areas and limit rent increases in those areas by law had never been done by an Irish Government before. We will review its effectiveness in the summer and will try to take other issues into account. It is important that we provide certainty to the market as well and not give the impression that we will dramatically change direction.
10. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the progress being made on the Government's vacant housing strategy; the reasons for the delay in forming this strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17121/17]
The Ceann Comhairle has agreed that Question No. 10 will be taken by Deputy Pat Casey.
What is the progress being made on the Government's vacant housing strategy as well as the reason for the delays in forming the strategy? Will he make a statement on same?
Pillar 5 of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is specifically focused on ensuring that the existing vacant housing stock throughout the country and across all forms of tenure in both the public and private sectors is used to the optimum degree possible. I know the Deputy agrees with this. In this regard, action 5.1 commits to the development of a national vacant housing reuse strategy that will be informed by census 2016 data to inform the compilation of a register of vacant units across the country; identify the number, location and reasons for longer-term vacancies which are more than six months in high demand areas; and set out a range of actions to bring vacant units back into use. As I referenced at a meeting in Wicklow last week, we have had vacant properties for 15 or 20 years in the country as recorded in the past three or four censuses. There is a long-term reason behind some of them. We are trying to get an understanding of that as well.
The Housing Agency, which has lead responsibility for co-ordinating the development of the strategy, established a working group in September 2016 comprising senior representatives from my Department, local authorities and the Housing Agency itself to inform the strategy. The working group has met more than six times to date and is at present concluding its deliberations on recommendations to be incorporated in the strategy, with a view to facilitating and incentivising the greater reutilisation of vacant properties.
To assist in the finalisation of the strategy broad consultations were undertaken with a range of key stakeholders involved in the housing and homelessness areas as well as local authorities. This scale of engagement and the level of detail involved, including through several bilateral meetings with stakeholder groups, took time to organise but was considered crucial to informing the strategy. This is one of the reasons for the delay. It is also considered prudent to await the final census 2016 report on housing, which is due to be published on 20 April, to ensure the most up-to-date data on housing is incorporated in the strategy. Against that background, it is intended that the strategy will be finalised and published next month.
More than 7,000 public housing voids have been returned to use in recent years at considerable cost. It is important to note that voids have almost become a thing of the past. Every local authority has stepped up to the plate to bring voids back into use. Deputy Casey will be aware that the Department announced two schemes ahead of the announcement of the full strategy. These are the repair and leasing initiative and the buy and renew scheme. The Deputy attended a meeting last week in Wicklow at which I stressed that these schemes provide local authorities an immense opportunity to step up and get vacant properties back into use. Further schemes will be announced but the two to which I have referred are ideal for addressing the issue the Deputy raises.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He referred to an "immense opportunity" and I agree, although I also believe a great opportunity has been lost. The latest census figures indicate there are 260,000 vacant properties in the State. This figure does not include properties above commercial properties which are not already residential. The overall figure, therefore, is substantially higher than 260,000. Even if 2% of these vacant properties were returned to use, we would have 7,500 more homes available. The Department has provided €32 million to deliver 800 homes. We would need a fund of only €300 million to deliver 7,500 homes. We should revisit this issue because vacant properties provide a much quicker solution to the housing and homelessness crisis than new builds. They also offer an easy win for all concerned.
I fully agree with the Deputy. Preliminary data from the census indicate there are approximately 200,000 vacant properties when holiday homes are excluded. The figure may be slightly lower but, either way, this area presents an immense opportunity. For this reason, the Minister announced a couple of initiatives to fast-track our approach. We are putting processes in place. We held two workshops, engaged with all the local authorities and met their chief executives and asked them to pursue vacant properties. The funding and schemes to do so are in place and an additional €32 million has been allocated to the repair and lease-back initiative this year. This could bring more than 1,000 properties into use because the figures the Deputy cited assume full cost.
The Government will make it as easy as possible to bring vacant properties into use. For example, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Heather Humphreys, recently announced another scheme to tackle vacant properties. The Housing Agency is trying to purchase more than 400 vacant properties and has been provided with a budget of €70 million, of which €60 million could be spent on the properties it has viewed thus far. Much is being done in this area and the Department is open to doing more but we need local authorities to engage. I cannot stress enough that local authority members have an opportunity to find vacant properties, bring them into the system and make them available. That is what we want to happen.
The Minister of State is correct but more support is required. The greatest opportunity available to us is in the area of vacant properties because they offer a win on all accounts, especially in respect of village and town renewal. Bringing vacant properties back into use brings life back into towns. We are failing to deliver the critical infrastructure needed to build new houses. Vacant properties have water and sewerage services and access to the road network. I ask the Minister to revisit this issue and find more money to address vacant properties. To use the Department's figures, the €300 million sum provided to deliver 7,500 vacant properties into use is less than what is being spent on rapid build housing, which will deliver only 350 units. When we compare like with like, it is clear that vacant properties present a golden opportunity. Perhaps we can revisit the issue as a possible solution in the near future.
The three schemes to which the Minister of State referred are good. While he often complains that I give him a hard time, I have publicly stated these schemes are worth supporting. The problem is that over the six years of the schemes, the Department's target is to deliver 6,600 houses, which amounts to 3% of the vacant housing stock to which Deputy Casey referred. I urge the Minister to ensure the strategy he is finalising is much more ambitious in terms of the number of units being targeted. Additional resources, particularly staffing, must be provided to local authorities to enable them to go after these units and return them to use. This approach would secure many more units at a far better price.
If one contrasts the 6,600 units the Minister plans to return to use over five or six years with the 40,000 units targeted under the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme, it shows the Department's priorities are wrong. A unit returned to use through the repair and lease or purchase and renovate scheme provides much better value for money than having someone in the HAP scheme for five or ten years. The Minister could be much more ambitious in this area. I look forward to the publication of the strategy.
The Peter McVerry Trust has suggested that local authorities have empty homes officers, as is the case in the United Kingdom, who would actively seek to find out why houses are empty. This is a good proposal, although I am not necessarily suggesting additional staff be appointed. Each local authority could designate an existing member of staff and instruct this person to proactively find out why houses are empty and whether they can be used. I share the Minister's frustration in this regard, having called in local authorities in my time as a Minister to get them to do things. The proposal from the Peter McVerry Trust is a very good one.
We are all in complete agreement on this matter, which is nice for a change. The opportunities in this area are endless. We have asked local authorities and approved housing bodies to send someone out to every vacant property and tell us who owns it, why it is empty, what is wrong with it and what must be done to bring it into use. The Department will then chase up on every individual property. We have asked approved housing bodies and local authorities to work on this issue together in all relevant areas. We also asked them to be ambitious and go after these properties. Three schemes have been announced and money has been allocated to them. More will follow when the strategy is published. We have made clear to local authority members and management that they must show ambition and spend the money we have allocated. We will then find more money but we must first see ambition. We have stated in face to face meetings with local authority managers that the best way for local authorities to prove to observers that they are up to the job is to find vacant properties and bring them back into use. The challenge lies with them. Resources are available and we will find more demand-led schemes. The Minister has made clear that if the allocation is spent, we will find more money. Everyone has a role to play in this matter. Members and councillors know people who own vacant properties and should ask them to make these properties available. Everyone gains from these worthwhile schemes.
11. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on the level of enforcement of residential tenancies legislation on landlords; if additional regulations and penalties for landlords are needed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17105/17]
Is the Minister satisfied with the level of regulation and enforcement in the private rented sector or is further regulation necessary? I ask this question on foot of a claim made by the Minister of State at a housing policy forum the other week that more people are choosing to rent because of a more flexible - in other words, insecure - working environment. Official Government policy, as set out in Rebuilding Ireland, is that a strong rental sector is needed to support a mobile labour market. Put another way, housing, like jobs, should be insecure. I am particularly concerned about the kind of life young people face given that the private rented sector is experiencing dramatic growth.
The Deputy has put an unfortunate spin on a highly progressive approach to the role and functioning of the much more predictable rental market we would like to create. For as long as I remember, the problem with the rental market is that rents rapidly increase in boom times and collapse at times of recession. This is no way to manage a rental market in which we want to create security of tenure and much more predictability and certainty for tenants and landlords. We recognise that many people do not want to live in one location or in a house with a significant amount of debt attached to it for the rest of their lives. Some people want temporary accommodation because of where they want to work and live. Some will choose to rent for a lifetime because they want to avoid significant debt. Those who want to do this should have the option. We are not trying to encourage this option.
Home ownership is a core part of the Irish mentality and approach to property. There is nothing wrong with that but we want people to have options and, in the past, the rental market was only an option for people who were looking for temporary accommodation, students or those who could not afford their own home. That has changed a great deal over the past ten years, particularly in Dublin. It is the norm in many other European capitals. We are trying in the new rental strategy to provide a much more balanced, predictable rental market that has higher quality and that has good regulation for both tenants and landlords. We are making that change but it will not happen overnight, mainly because many landlords only have one property and they are not used to the regulation that comes with being a landlord.
The role of the RTB, particularly in the rental strategy, is being significantly enhanced. Unlike many other countries, we essentially have a rent regulator. We are significantly strengthening the RTB by increasing its staff numbers and the resources that go with that. Since the number of RPZs increased before Christmas, there has been a 135% increase in the number of people contacting the board, often just for information to understand new rules, laws and so on. We have an evolving but improving rental market, which is moving in the right direction in respect of security of tenure, predictability and certainty in order that people have the option of staying in that market for a long period if that is what they want and if that suits their lifestyle.
We are out of time but I will allow the Deputy and Minister to contribute again.
We are out of time but the Minister is continuously taking 45 seconds more to answer most of the questions.
I am just trying to give complete answers.
The Chair governs those issues.
The Minister took an additional 50 seconds to give that reply. Let us have a little equality for those tabling the questions.
The Deputy should not waste time.
A Red C survey conducted on behalf of the Department in 2014 found that only 17% of respondents were happy renting. The Minister has painted a picture of people choosing to rent. People may choose to rent for a period of their lives but the problem is now that period is extending. The surest way to get into debt is to be in the private rental sector because it eats up most of people's income. He must be aware of this, yet he peddles the myth that people do not want to get into debt by taking out a mortgage.
According to census figures, there are 119,000 fewer people in their 20s and 30s in the State now than five years ago. Thank God they all emigrated. Can Members imagine the crisis we would have in the private rental sector if they had chosen to stay? The young people who are here are in overcrowded-----
I thank the Deputy and call the Minister.
Can I have the same consideration as given to the Minister? Could the Chair keep an eye on the clock?
Approximately 400 Irish people a week are coming home to work because they want to live here. Many will find accommodation in the private rental market and some will, hopefully, be able to afford a home. There are more people coming home than leaving because they can see the country is moving in the right direction, despite the fact that there are many who try to put a negative spin on this. If we were not trying to create an improved rental market, the Deputy would give out about that. Now that we are looking to improve the market in respect of core issues such as security of tenure, predictability and managing unsustainable rent increases, she is giving out about that as well and accusing me of trying to force people into this market by trying to improve it. Can the Deputy see anything positive in this?
We have a significant rental sector, which is expanding. That is a fact, whether or not we like it. My job is to try to make sure the rental market is better structured and protected by better laws to ensure tenants are protected and landlords have certainty. Of course, if people want to purchase their own homes or if they want to access social housing, we need to facilitate that transition as well. We are doing that but the rental market has a core function for many people and my job is to try to make sure we achieve the best balance we can in that market.
That concludes Questions.
So I lose out because the Minister went on.
Do not mind that. We will move on to the next business. Time has expired. I am sorry about that.
The Chair is not sorry because he allowed that to happen.
We cannot alter the ticking clock.
That is ridiculous.
