Eoin Ó Broin
Question:3. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage what he intends to do to address rising levels of homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15881/24]
View answerThursday, 11 April 2024
Questions (3)
Oral answers (29 contributions)
The next question is from Deputy Ó Broin. Tríd an Chathaoir; through the Chair, please.
It is now a year since the Government took the disastrous decision to end the ban on no-fault evictions. At the time, we told the Government that if it did that without the appropriate supports and prevention measures being in place, homelessness would rise month on month, as it has done. There has been a 13% increase in homelessness among people and a shocking 16% increase in homelessness among children. Almost 14,000 people, 4,000 of them children, under the Minister's watch, are in Department of housing-funded emergency accommodation. What is the Minister going to do to tackle this deteriorating homelessness crisis?
It remains the single most important challenge we face, no less so for those families and individuals who find themselves in emergency accommodation. Supporting those individuals and families is a priority. Critical to that support is enabling households to exit homelessness and increasing housing supply.
Almost 12,000 new social homes were delivered last year, a massive increase in social housing delivery. That was through Bills, acquisition and leasing, including 8,110 new-build social homes last year. By any fair assessment, that was a very good performance. That is the highest level of new-build social homes in about 50 years. If HAP and RAS are included, 21,733 social housing supports were provided last year. Record State investment of €5 billion has been made available this year to support the largest home building programme ever, including 9,300 new-build social homes.
The funding will also continue the support of the tenant in situ scheme. I remind the Deputy that last year we had a target of 200 acquisitions.
We increased that to 1,500 and last year there were 1,830 concluded sales for insecure tenancies. Those homes were purchased and converted to social housing tenancies. It is a good scheme, which is working and we will continue it into this year as it is an important preventative measure.
In budget 2024 we allocated €242 million for the delivery of homeless services and the funding will continue to support the provision of emergency accommodation and the related support we need. Fundamentally, we need to continue to increase our supply of permanent solutions. Thankfully, I have met families and households who are now in their permanent, safe, secure social homes because of the increase in funding. Homelessness remains a challenge, unquestionably so, and we need to increase the supply.
There are challenges in the private rental sector, which I will return to in my reply to the supplementary question.
How is it possible at a time of rising social housing output that homelessness is also rising? The answer is simple. The targets the Government has set in its plan are too low and it is not meeting those targets. The Minister is correct that just over 8,000 new-build social homes were delivered last year, which is 1,000 short of the Government's target. When you look at the total number of new-build social homes the Minister promised to deliver since taking office, the number of homes he has not delivered is 9,527. How many families with children and single people who will be in emergency accommodation tonight would not be in emergency accommodation if he had kept his promise? He cannot do so. He breaks every promise he makes on social and affordable housing. Again, he did not answer the question. The clear question is this: given that homelessness is rising month on month, what will the Minister do for the people in emergency accommodation? Exits are still lower than the number of people going in. How will he ensure the Government not only meets its targets this year, for the first time since he became Minister with responsibility for social housing, but actually increases the targets, not in the autumn, but now to meet need?
I put it to the Deputy that many others would be in social homes right now if his party and colleagues had not continually objected to housing right across the country. The Deputy shares responsibility for that with Sinn Féin Deputies and councillors across the country.
To be specific on exits, since 2022, some 5,524 adults were assisted to exit local authority emergency accommodation and 6,802 adults were prevented from becoming homeless. There are many reasons that the numbers in homelessness have increased. It is a complex issue. The reasons include family break-up - it is true - the private rental sector, new arrivals and a growing population, but we will not be diverted from the measures we are taking to increase housing supply. We will continue the tenant in situ scheme this year which is working well and we will look at other supports, especially around exits for people and families who have been in emergency accommodation longer than we would like. There will be a focus in local authorities on exiting larger families in particular into permanent homes. We are working that through right now.
When the Minister's period of office comes to an end, he will be remembered for one thing and one thing only: presiding over the single largest increase in single, family and child homelessness in modern history. There is only one reason people become homeless: a failure of the State to ensure an adequate supply of social and affordable homes to meet the needs of households in crisis. In fact, one of the figures the Government released in its information dump on Holy Thursday demonstrated that he is the first Minister since 2016 to preside over an increase in the number of households on local authority housing waiting lists. What the Minister is doing is not working. It is quite shocking to suggest that there are many reasons for homelessness and somehow try to displace the blame for homelessness onto the people his policies are failing.
I will ask the question again, but the Minister will refuse to answer and will divert and deflect. What will he do to meet social housing targets this year? When will he increase them? What will he do to bring an end to month-on-month rises in the shocking level of adult, child, single and pensioner homelessness?
Right now, as I speak, approximately 26,000 social homes are at various different stages of construction in the pipeline. That is because the State, through Housing for All, has a multiannual, fully funded plan that will invest €5 billion in housing this year. Deputy Ó Broin likes to play ducks and drakes with facts. He knows that the reason social housing waiting lists have gone up slightly is that we broadened the eligibility criteria and increased the income bands to allow more people to apply for social homes, something the Deputy has been calling for. If we broaden the eligibility criteria, does he expect to see a decrease in the number of people applying for social homes? The Deputy likes to twist the facts on that. That is fine. This year, we will deliver more new social homes than we have ever done before. We have a very strong pipeline-----
And yet homelessness will rise.
-----focusing on exiting people from homelessness, for which I have already given figures. We are already doing that. We will continue to do so during the course of this year. We are now seeing thousands of social homes and, more important, thousands of people getting their permanent, secure, social homes because of the measures-----
The Minister for homelessness. That is what the Minister will be remembered as.
-----this Government is taking.
It is no smiling matter. Child homelessness is no smiling matter.
Deputy, please. You are making it impossible.
Do not try that again with me, Deputy.
We are over time, Minister. You are not going to-----
You are the Minister for homelessness.
Anyway, I will not get involved in this childish back and forth with Deputy Ó Broin.
Why would he answer a question about rising homelessness under his watch? What would he do that?
Deputy.
Shame on you.
Deputy, please.
Apologies, Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
Stop it. He is being ridiculous.
We could go with the apology and have a change as well from both sides. I would appreciate that.
I do not think we can apportion blame for the conduct of questions this morning.
We are not going to do blame, please. Tá mé ag bogadh-----
Blame for homelessness is much more significant. I am expressing the anger of the people the Minister is failing.
You just apologised.
I apologised to you, Leas-Cheann Comhairle.