Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2023
1. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to set out what additional measures he intends to put in place to stem the deeply worrying rise in the number of adults and children in emergency accommodation. [33418/23]
View answerWill the Minister outline the additional measures he intends to put in place to stem the deeply worrying rise in the numbers of adults and children in emergency accommodation?
I wish Deputy Gould good morning, as I was getting worried there. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle has given some latitude to allow his question, which is good. It is an important question.
There is no doubt but that the continued rise in numbers accessing emergency accommodation is of serious concern to me and to the Government.
I am working with the national homeless action committee to ensure we address the prevention of entries into homelessness and exits from homelessness as a matter of urgency. I chair that committee, and it is made up of the State stakeholders, as well as the NGOs. We are prioritising measures with a focus on accelerating social and affordable housing supply through a combination of new builds, targeted acquisitions and leasing.
Some €4.5 billion is being made available this year to support the largest State home-building programme ever, including 9,100 direct-build social homes and 5,500 affordable homes. I remind the Deputy that last year we built more new social homes than we have done since 1975. There will also be increased provision for social housing acquisitions for local authorities to acquire at least 1,500 social homes. This is the purchase of homes with tenants in situ. It is focused on properties where tenants are in receipt of social housing supports, as the Deputy will know. Every local authority is working hard on this initiative and initial feedback indicates that we will exceed that target of 1,500 quite substantially this year. There is no ceiling on this either.
For households ineligible for social housing, I have introduced the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme, for which we have also had our first approvals. The targeted leasing initiative, which has been set up specifically to target those experiencing or at risk of homelessness, is set to deliver over 400 additional social homes this year. Policy is being developed to help tenants to buy their rented homes on the basis of landlords offering their tenants the first right of refusal. I expect to bring a memo to Cabinet next week on this proposal. These measures are all aimed at preventing households from becoming homeless or to help people exit from homelessness to reduce the number of adults and children in emergency accommodation.
The Minister outlined the tenant in situ scheme, which he said is just starting to roll out now.
No, it was in January.
I am sorry. It is the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme which has started to roll out now. The Minister also spoke about the tenant in situ scheme, which he said he hopes will achieve more than the target of 1,500 units. These schemes, however, are only preventing additional homelessness. We have seen a 20% rise in 12 months in the figures for homelessness to 12,441, of whom 3,699 are children. I understand that the Minister is trying to reduce the number of additional people being added to this figure, but we have seen an increase of 182 people in one month and a 20% increase in one year. What the Minister is outlining is not going to stop the figures for homelessness from going up and it is definitely not going to reduce them. I understand the Minister talking about these schemes, and for those families who take them up, they are a godsend. Homelessness, though, is out of control.
Sure, this is the biggest single issue we are tackling and supply is key to all of it. Deputy Gould knows this as well. To give some facts, and to look at last year, 5,478 exits from homelessness were achieved by way of tenancies being created or else people exiting into social housing. We had more people exiting in the last quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year into permanent social housing because we are building up this stock. People enter homeless emergency accommodation for many reasons. It is not just because of the end of tenancies but also because of relationship break-ups or new arrivals. It is a complex issue. Looking at the first quarter of this year, though, nearly 1,500 adults, as well as their dependents, either exited or were prevented from entering emergency accommodation. This is a 15% increase on the year before. We are, therefore, exiting more people, although more people are coming in and I am aware of this fact. To be helpful to the House, and it is no consolation to anyone in emergency accommodation, but about two thirds of people spend less than six months in emergency accommodation before they are exited out. I think everyone will agree that the way to do this is to increase supply, which we are doing. I remind the Deputy we built more new social homes last year than we have done in nearly 50 years.
We in Sinn Féin would reinstate the eviction ban. We would also help to slow down people becoming homeless. If the Minister had done this, those additional 182 people would probably not have been homeless in May. It would also have given the chance to perhaps reduce the figures. Additionally, legislation has been proposed by Simon and Focus Ireland concerning homelessness that the Government has not adopted. Why? These are people who are on the front line and who understand the challenges facing local authorities and people providing homeless accommodation for people who become homeless, and the Government is not doing anything. Why is it not enacting this legislation?
We also know that rent increases are driving people out of their homes. Where is the rent freeze? Sinn Féin would reinstate the ban on evictions and bring in a rent freeze. We would also ensure that there was enough money in the budgets of the local authorities as well.
I will leave the Minister with this point. I am dealing with a family that will be becoming homeless next Monday. There is a husband and wife and their 12-year-old autistic child. They have been told that her little dog, that she has as a comforter-----
I thank the Deputy.
-----cannot move into the hotel into which they are moving next Monday. This is what the Minister is standing over. An autistic child is being ripped out of her home and going into a hotel room.
Sinn Féin would not reinstate the eviction ban and the party has changed its position on this issue three times. It has changed the dates. It has said it would extend it to Christmas this year, then 1 March, then December and then January. The reality is that the eviction moratorium gave us the opportunity to deliver more accommodation, which we did. We have debated this issue. In the last full quarter, before the introduction of the moratorium, 1,947 households and individuals presented as homeless to homeless emergency accommodation. We saw this continue throughout the moratorium as well. We must be careful, as we would be in government, that any measures we take, especially concerning the private rental sector, which Sinn Féin rails against all the time-----
That is not true. We would-----
I did not interrupt the Deputy once. We do need good landlords in the system as well. The measures taken impact supply. They do, and if we were to continue to have an open-ended moratorium, then we would see more accommodation lost in the private rental sector, thereby exacerbating the problem. We are focused on increasing supply, which we are doing.
