Housing Assistance Payments Implementation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 April 2015

Thursday, 23 April 2015

Questions (5)

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

5. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the research he has carried out regarding the viability of rolling out the housing assistance payment scheme to 75,000 families and persons by 2020, in view of the already considerable difficulty in getting landlord agreement for the existing rent allowance scheme; his plans to deal with the local authorities' duty of care to tenants under the housing assistance payment scheme in the future, particularly in regard to security of tenure and standards of accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15782/15]

Oral answers (8 contributions)

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

Notwithstanding the bogus propaganda that €3.8 billion has been allocated for the provision of 110,000 social housing units, the reality is that €2.3 billion of that relates to the existing rent allowance budget of the Department of Social Protection. That is a fact, as verified by the Department in the reply to a parliamentary question I submitted earlier this week. Two thirds of the houses the Minister is promising come under the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme, that is, they are properties rented out by private landlords. When landlords are increasing rents and evicting people on a daily basis, how can the Minister seriously expect us to believe the HAP scheme and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, that he is promising will deliver the housing that is desperately needed by people such as those in the Gallery today?

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government

I thank the Deputy for his question. As outlined by the Minister, the implementation of the HAP scheme is a key Government priority under the Social Housing Strategy 2020, which sets out a range of ambitious targets. The scheme is vital if we are to meet housing demand, which, as the Deputy rightly points out, is increasing. The funding that has been committed under the social housing strategy is evidence of our commitment in this area. More than €3 billion has been ring-fenced for the provision of a mixture of housing solutions. All Deputies will know from their constituency clinics that local authorities have not been building houses for the past 12 years. We came into government at a time when houses were simply not available in local authority areas and voids were not being turned around quickly enough. The Minister and I have given a major focus to improving the turnaround of voids. For the first time, we are measuring how long these turnarounds are taking and how much they are costing. That will help to reduce the housing lists, but it will take time.

The construction of new homes, likewise, will take time, because it involves the issuing of tenders and so on before construction can commence. Huge investment is going into that area. In the meantime, we must put in place other solutions, one of which is the HAP scheme. I would expect the Deputy to welcome the funding we are putting in place to bring benefits to tenants in terms of security of tenure, improved accommodation standards and so on. Every local authority that administers a HAP scheme must ensure properties are inspected and brought up to standard within eight months. Something had to be done to bridge the gap in accommodation provision until the new house-building programmes commence. The HAP scheme is working very well in that regard in seven local authority areas and is about to be rolled out in 12 more areas around the country. I am confident that this component of the social housing strategy will help to address the demand to which the Deputy referred.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

Hundreds of families are being evicted on a monthly basis by landlords who are running away from rent allowance arrangements with local authorities. At any point in time across the Dublin local authority areas, dozens of RAS landlords are evicting tenants. How can the Minister of State expect us to accept that all these people will be brought into the HAP scheme? That is not going to happen. Will he at least admit that of the €3.8 billion allocated, €2.3 billion is for the existing rent allowance budget of the Department of Social Protection? The new funding being provided is actually €1.5 billion, and that is simply not enough. Indeed, it goes nowhere near dealing with the problem in the short or long term. What is required is new houses.

In the meantime, however, I can offer the Minister of State a solution to meet existing need. The National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, has €4 billion in cash. That is our money. Putting even half of it into an emergency programme of social housing construction, to commence immediately, and using whatever empty properties the agency has to provide emergency accommodation would go a good away towards addressing the need that is out there.

Deputy Paudie Coffey

We all agree that housing is one of the most pressing issues in this country. The Government is committed to prioritising and resolving this issue. The Deputy, however, seems to be conveniently pointing to the worst-case scenarios. The Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, is doing a great of good work in terms of raising awareness of tenants' rights. In fact, a campaign is under way, in conjunction with the Department of Social Protection, at the moment. I advise the Deputy and any citizen who has concerns in this area to visit the website keepingyourhome.ie, operated by the Money Advice & Budgeting Service and the Citizens Information Board, which sets out the legislation that is in place to protect people from eviction in cases in which rents have been hiked. That is not allowed to happen under existing law, and there is support and advice available for people in that scenario.

The Deputy is not giving local authorities the credit due to them for bringing thousands of people into successful rental accommodation schemes around the country. A report on the implementation of the HAP scheme has been submitted to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht, and it is open to the Deputy or any Member to scrutinise that report to see what progress that has been made. Some 1,500 people are now successfully participating in the scheme in the seven pilot local authority areas. We intend to increase the participation rate to more than 8,000 by the end of this year when the next wave is rolled out in 12 local authority areas. Progress is being made and we would welcome the Deputy's support for it. There can be no permanent solution until the new houses are built. I ask the Deputy to acknowledge that on the floor of the Dáil this morning.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

I work every day with a local authority that is firefighting in the face of this disastrous situation. The worst-case scenario is being experienced by the people in the Gallery, who represent only the tip of the iceberg that is the disaster unfolding in Dublin and other urban centres. I want to work with the Minister of State to find solutions, but we must be honest here. The numbers he gave in reference to the sign-up rate for the HAP scheme relate to existing rent allowance landlords. Nothing has changed for the people on housing lists, who will not get a council house as a result of these changes. A few landlords will sign up to HAP, but many of them are walking away.

An Ceann Comhairle

Would you put your question please, Deputy?

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

How can the Minister seriously base the future housing strategy on the disastrous crisis we are facing in the hope that he will get tens of thousands of private landlords to sign up for these schemes when they are walking away from rent allowance or arrangements with local authorities?

Deputy Paudie Coffey

I want to clarify one item for the Deputy. He said the €4 billion includes the housing assistance payment, HAP. There is €4 billion of capital committed to the year 2020. The Deputy said nothing has changed. A great deal has changed in the past year. The Construction 2020 strategy will address many of the deficits in terms of housing provision throughout the country. We are only now seeing the construction sector getting back to some level of normality in terms of construction. We were building 90,000 houses a year, which was unsustainable. We need to get that back to some level of sustainability. In addition, in the coming weeks the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, and I will announce hundreds of schemes throughout the country for direct build, the very schemes for which the Deputy is calling, but they cannot be built today or tomorrow. In the meantime, we have to bridge that gap through schemes such as the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and the HAP because the houses cannot be "magicked" out of the air. That is what the Deputy is calling for but that cannot be delivered overnight so we have to provide for the very people he is talking about, and we will provide for them through the provision of RAS and HAP.

This will bring benefits in terms of certainty in rental standards administered by the local authority at the same differential rental rate as the local authority. These supports are in place. The Private Residential Tenancies Board is supporting people in private accommodation under threat of eviction. Also, the Department of Social Protection will engage with them on a case by case basis to assist them. I want to be clear that there is support for people under threat of eviction and we in the Government and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government will support them also.