I agree with what my colleague, Deputy Catherine Byrne, said about the role of the local authorities and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in the housing area. We experienced problems over the past ten years when the Department eased itself out of the responsibility it used to have for housing. We were led to believe housing needs would be catered for by the private sector, but we know where that eventually went. Rents increased dramatically. Salaries and wages had to go up accordingly to meet the rental requirements. During the halcyon days of the Celtic tiger, people who were not at the top of this country's salary scale were paying rents of up to €2,000 a month. We know where that went.
There is a problem with the housing stock that is normally held by local authorities. The need to provide for future requirements in that area has been completely forgotten. In the 1980s, when we were supposed to be poor, a local authority of which I was a member issued 1,600 loans in a period of between three and a half years and four years. The authority in question was funded directly by means of Housing Finance Agency loans. The number of local authority loans that were issued over a comparable period during the Celtic tiger era was approximately 50. It is an appalling comparison. During the 1980s, the local authority of which I was a member used to build approximately 400 houses each year. Those houses were allocated to tenants who had an incentive to work. If they did not have a job, they were covered as they were on a differential rent.
The strain that is now in the system, as everyone goes around in circles, was not there in the 1980s. The then Department of Social Welfare did not have to get involved to the same extent as the current Department of Social Protection. I do not suggest the Department is not doing a good job. The fact is that the whole social housing structure has broken down. Speakers referred to the UK. Some of the things we copy from the UK work well, but others do not work at all. The quality of the housing stock has degenerated dramatically. There has been a huge deterioration in the quality of life of people in some housing schemes. I do not refer exclusively to local authority housing schemes. We discussed that aspect of the matter at the last meeting of the joint committee. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government needs to take its responsibilities much more seriously and to deal with these situations as they arise.
I refer to an aspect of this morning's presentation that jumped out at me. Have the Departments of Social Protection and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government worked out the housing requirements for the next two or three years? Approximately 40,000 people are in serious mortgage arrears and will lose their houses if something is not done for them. Nothing was done for them in yesterday's budget and it is not likely that anything will be done. They are being ignored even though the IMF referred to this issue three or four months ago. The IMF spoke out because it knew it would end up lending money to this country. It was thinking about its own interests. The people to whom I refer will lose their houses unless something is done about it. It is a sad situation.
The mantra we have heard from various Departments in recent times - that the alleged beneficiaries of the increase are somehow to blame - is no good. They are not to blame. They are the victims of the situation we find ourselves in and this country finds itself in. There is no use in saying we will do it on a short-term basis. That does not work. We need to encourage people to have some kind of permanency. One can imagine what it is like to talk to the mother of a child who has been moved three, four or five times in the past six or seven years. It is an appalling situation. One can imagine what it is like for kids to be moved from one school to another over four or five years. Some people ask why society is not stable, or why we are in danger of cracking up. It is quite simple. There are many reasons for that. It is within the ambit of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to address these issues, but it has opted out from the housing area. I compliment the efforts of the local authorities to respond to the situation that is developing. However, those who think we will go back to where we were - back to the good old halcyon days - in five or six years time, or in ten years time, are wrong. They had better believe we are not going there.
I wish to deal quickly with something else I spotted recently. Like any local authority member I have ever known, I have always encouraged the purchase of local authority houses. In years gone by, local authority houses across vast swathes of this city that were constructed to a high standard were purchased by those who used to be tenants in them. That right has been taken away from tenants in recent years, unfortunately. It was not possible under any circumstances to buy a house with the local authority loans that were made available. It was crazy stuff. The limit in County Kildare was €150,000 or something like that. Where would one have been able to purchase a house for €150,000? It was not possible to do so.
There is another problem which must be dealt with as a matter of urgency. Approximately 25,000 houses are currently held by voluntary, non-profit-making organisations. These dwellings were built and paid for by the State. There was a 100% capital allowance scheme relating to the houses to which I refer, people could obtain 100% loans for them and the sites were free. The only requirement relating to the organisations in question is that they administer these houses and inform tenants when their rent is due. A number of these organisations have not held proper annual general meetings or observed the articles of association. They resent it when they are asked why they reached certain conclusions.
The organisations to which I refer have no difficulty informing tenants that they own their houses. The State owns and paid for the construction of every one of those houses. The sooner the officials in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government recognise their responsibilities in this regard the better. I discussed this matter with the Minister of State with responsibility for housing and I am aware that he understands the situation fully and recognises that action must be taken. This country can no longer afford the type of nonsense to which I refer. There is no such thing as handing over houses built during the property boom to some private organisation or other, regardless of whether it is non-profit making or otherwise. The term "non-profit making" always arouses my suspicions.
At a time when we should encourage people to purchase houses - provided there are sufficient funds in the local loan fund - a person seeking a local authority housing loan is obliged to complete a section on the relevant form which deals with his or her credit rating. I do not know why people are being asked to provide information in this regard. Local authorities are housing authorities, they are not banks. If a person has no credit rating at all as a result of the fact that he or she has been destitute and if he or she obtains a job and is in a position, therefore, to meet the repayments on a loan, he or she is entitled to be considered. That is the position under the 1966 Act. Like everything else, however, the position has been modified and watered down to such an extent that nothing works any longer.
If our guests want to know what it is like to be frustrated, I can inform them it happens when one is obliged to complete a form containing 25 or 26 pages. One must supply all sorts of information to prove that one is living in a particular area. I do not know what that has to do with anything. We are living in the digital age and surely if one inputs a person's PPS number in to a computer, all of the information relating to him or her should appear on screen. The system does not appear to work anymore. As a result, people are obliged to fill in copious amounts of documentation.
When one sends the documentation to which I refer to one's local authority and when it is assessed, if some small item of information is missing then it will be returned to the relevant tenant. The form will not be sent to his or her public representative because this is prohibited under the Data Protection Act. Meanwhile, the transient tenant in question will have moved to another location and he or she will never receive the form. People often presume that their application has been with their local authority for two or three years but when they check the position, they are informed that their application is not on file. The local authority will also state that it never received a reply to the letter it sent. In most cases, local authorities may be writing to people who were last to be found at a particular address perhaps five, six or seven years ago. These individuals may have moved on three, four or five occasions in the meantime. What is happening is extremely sad.
In the event that, at the end of the Celtic tiger era, anyone should be of the view that society and the Government have done a great job and that we can relax, I wish to set them straight. In recent weeks, I, like many other members, visited people who live in deplorable conditions. These individuals have no heat and, in some instances, no light because they cannot afford to pay for these services. It is not likely that they will be able to afford them in the future either. It may be the case that some of those to whom I refer are eccentric, elderly or set in their ways. I met one man who was wearing nothing but a vest on a day when the temperature outside was -6o Celsius. I am not surprised that society has become somewhat cynical, particularly in view of the fact that some people are living in the conditions to which I refer.
There is a tendency towards the view that those who depend on the system should not be dependent on it. There are those who believe that these individuals should be dealt with by some other means and that they should not be able to access the system. Society has always had obligations towards its members. It must live up to those obligations because it will become very unstable if it does not do so.