Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 23 Feb 2017

Vol. 940 No. 2

Other Questions

Local Authority Housing

Ruth Coppinger

Ceist:

6. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on the policy of the hand-over or sale of publicly owned land to private developers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9038/17]

I want to ask about the policy of the Government and of local authorities that involves selling off or gifting public lands to private developers, thereby allowing them to control even more of the housing supply at a time of housing emergency. This represents a huge break with the past, when the councils would have built public housing on those lands. I think this is a key problem and is contributing to the ongoing major housing emergency.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta.

I will try to follow Deputy Coppinger by staying within the specified time. The Deputy and I have debated this issue previously. I think we need to take multiple approaches to the provision of social housing. In addition to developing classic social housing projects on public land and actively pursuing Part V, we should use public land more strategically to drive a new approach involving a mixture of social and private housing in mixed-tenure projects and to get more social housing built more quickly. We have already spent quite some time today talking about all the projects we are trying to push on. Almost 8,500 social housing units are at various stages in the pipeline for delivery and construction. We need to use the capacity of the private sector to deliver social housing, affordable units and private housing, often on the same sites. We can do that effectively by strategically using publicly owned landbanks. Nobody is talking about selling off private landbanks or gifting them to people.

I am talking about public landbanks.

There will always be a dividend and a return for the State. It is up to us to ensure we maximise that dividend, in particular to increase the supply of social housing.

I will explain how this is operating in Dublin City Council, which is the pilot for every other council, including my own local council, about which I will speak in a minute. Under the Dublin City Council land initiative, 50% of properties will be privately owned, 20% will be rented out privately and just 30% will be social housing.

That is absolutely scandalous. To be clear on the rented properties, the developer will be allowed to rent those houses to people at what will effectively be market rates or a little under them.

The Minister has stated this is not gifting but in the case of the land initiative in Dublin City Council, we can consider what is happening with O'Devaney Gardens and St. Michael's estate, where all or part of the lands will be sold for development rather than kept in public ownership. That will come at a much lower price than those developers would otherwise pay. For example, it works out that a developer could get his or her hands on land at the O'Devaney site at approximately €24,000 per unit. Developers are getting sites at a knock-down price and meanwhile, people who need public housing are being pushed out.

I do not know how the Deputy knows this, as O'Devaney Gardens has not yet been signed off. I do not know how she knows how much people will pay.

I can tell the Minister.

What we have agreed in principle with other political parties, including Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and others, on O'Devaney Gardens is to use it as an example of a new approach to delivering communities of mixed tenure. These will have 30% social housing and 20% for affordable rental. It will not be just for market rents; that would contradict the term "affordable rental" in that part of Dublin. There will be 50% for private development. It has not been agreed as to what level of financial cost or charge will be asked of a developer with regard to that site or whether we will get a dividend through paying for social housing or financing affordable rental units. That has yet to be worked out by Dublin City Council and it will come back to me with agreed models when it puts them together. There will be a big fund from my Department to finance social housing projects. We already signed off on €17 million a number of months ago to build 56 units at O'Devaney Gardens.

The O'Devaney Gardens site is valued at €14 million and it will contain a certain number of units, with developers allowed to build 584 such units. That is how I worked it out.

I will speak about the Minister's new proposal for affordable rental units in the limited time I have. His document indicates that in rent pressure zones:

Lands held by local authorities will be brought to market on a competitive tendering basis [to target] middle income private rental households.

The cost of providing rental units will be permanently reduced by lowering the initial investment and development costs for providers ... allowing the rental units to be made available at below market prices without the need for ongoing rental subsidies.

Basically, it will change policy to allow new builds to be rented out without other protections.

There is one piece of council land left in greater Blanchardstown, which is a key homeless black spot. The proposal is for that to be mixed tenure, that is, with a section sold for private housing. That will have a detrimental impact on the people I deal with every day who face homelessness or overcrowding. We will appeal to all parties, including Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin, and everybody else not to allow that to happen.

The Deputy and I seem to disagree fundamentally on one issue; I believe it is good to have mixed tenure developments but the Deputy does not.

No, I do not. The Minister is demonising council housing.

It looks as if we must agree to disagree on that.

Not when there is a housing crisis.

It was not a good thing the last time we built thousands of social houses, when we showed the country could do that, and we must get that capacity in place again. This time, when we add another 47,000 to 50,000 social houses to the social housing stock, I want them to be intermingled with private housing and affordable rental accommodation. Family sizes are different, demands are different and key workers need to be able to rent - as many of them want to rent - at affordable rental prices in city centres. We must respond to those. The Deputy seems to want to go back to the classic model of just designating large parts of the city for social housing only. I do not agree with the Deputy on that. There are social consequences that I want to avoid.

We are trying to ensure the kinds of mistakes made in the past are not repeated. One way in which we can address those mistakes is the promotion of mixed tenure on public land, which is exactly what we are trying to do.

We will never be able to house all the people.

I must stop the Deputy, as the time for the question has expired. We will move to the next question.

We will house more people faster.

The Minister needs to allocate more than 10%.

The councils need more money.

How long has O'Devaney Gardens been sitting there?

I ask the Deputies and the Minister to stop.

We are up to nine minutes per question.

We must allow Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan to introduce her question.

Student Accommodation

Maureen O'Sullivan

Ceist:

7. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to community concerns in those parts of Dublin in which there is an increase in the extent of student accommodation and an increase in the number of planning applications for same; and the reason there is no social aspect to the student accommodation. [9043/17]

My question relates to the extent of student accommodation in parts of Dublin Central, the concerns of the communities and the social implications of so much student accommodation in certain areas.

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising the issue, as we are trying to concentrate on student accommodation as well. We are aware of the fact that, on occasions, development proposals for student accommodation developments can raise concerns at community level. However, the planning system is extremely open and transparent as regards community participation in the decision making process, including the avenue of third party appeals to An Bord Pleanála. While recognising local concerns that may arise, I am sure the Deputy would nonetheless agree that the provision of housing for students is an important and distinct category of accommodation within the overall rental sector in Ireland that has been underprovided for in recent years. This level of underprovision has displaced demand into the wider private rental sector and added to the upward pressure on rents. Therefore, the provision of additional student accommodation is an essential part of the core solution to our current housing issues and this is recognised in the Rebuilding Ireland strategy, which provides for preparation of a national student accommodation strategy; legislative and other initiatives to facilitate the higher education institutes accessing funding by the Housing Finance Agency; a streamlined planning approval mechanism; and maximising potential for purpose-built student accommodation on appropriate higher education institute campuses and public lands.

Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 applies to development projects concerning the provision of dwellings such as houses or apartments. These are different to the type of accommodation complexes often occupied by students over academic terms that have shared facilities and are subject to central management arrangements and do not constitute separate dwellings. However, student accommodation complexes can form part of wider mixed residential developments, including conventional houses or apartments, which would be subject to a Part V process, so each project needs to be considered on a case-by-case basis, as occurs with planning authorities. I am aware that Dublin City Council is closely monitoring the development of student accommodation projects so an appropriate balance and mix of housing and tenure types is realised in specific areas of the city in line with the statutory development plan and the council's housing strategy.

I understand the Deputy's concerns but many people tell us accommodation utilised by students is needed for other families and would agree with the concept of trying to have much more student accommodation. This would bring more solutions to the Deputy's community and we could provide better services for students and help them integrate better into communities if they are in purpose-built accommodation.

Dublin City Council may speak about balanced development but I can provide some figures. It is reckoned that currently, between what has already been granted and what is coming on stream, there will be student accommodation for 8,000 students in a very particular part of the north inner city. Dublin Institute of Technology's Grangegorman campus has indicated it needs accommodation for 4,000 students, 2,000 of whom will live on the campus. While there is a need in the greater Dublin area for 15,000 places in respect of student accommodation, more than half will go to a particular area in the north inner city. At community meetings concerns have been raised about the social implications.

Students are entitled to their parties, etc. but when they come in such numbers to areas with families and senior citizen complexes, it will create difficulties. They are also in areas with significant drug dealing, so is there any awareness of the increased pressure on addiction services in those areas as the inevitable will come about?

It is unfair to just assume that because an area has student accommodation, it will suffer all these difficulties. That is a little unfair and the wrong view, as it is not borne out by facts. I am willing to consider any facts that the Deputy has in that regard. We are trying to provide purpose-built student accommodation with all the services required for everybody's sake and for ease of integration. I have no problem discussing that with the Deputy but it would be wrong and unfair to assume that all these difficulties will come about.

There are 1,327 bed spaces under construction, with planning permission granted for 4,741 spaces. Planning permission has been applied for 2,602 bed spaces. There is preplanning of potential projects amounting to another 7,000 bed spaces.

In play there are a total of approximately 18,000 over the next few years. They are not all located in just one spot. I am very familiar with the Grangegorman site. I have been there. It will be a phased development. It should have happened before now, and if we can sort out the finance, it will happen. Not all the 8,000 or the additional 18,000 on top of that will be in the Deputy's area. It is wrong to assume so. I disagree with the Deputy's assumption at the start.

What I described is the reality in areas where there is a high density of student accommodation. We have the list of planning applications and they add up to 8,000. Who is the accommodation for? Students use student accommodation for possibly six months of the year. Who will avail of the space afterwards? It will be profit for the developer in the area. I take the Minister of State's point that it will move people out of private rented accommodation which will become available to others.

I am struck by the speed and urgency with which student accommodation has been going up. We do not see the same speed and urgency with the other type of housing that is needed. Student populations are transient and are coming into areas where there is already a transient population with private rented and hostel type accommodation, and it is not fair to the families and communities already living there. While I do not object to students partying, that is what they do in reality.

Again, student accommodation has not been an overnight success. I wish it were. These projects have been sitting idle and waiting for funding for many years. We are purposely trying to drive up the amount of student accommodation in cities and areas close to universities and on campuses. We are trying to encourage and provide funding for education institutes to drive on-campus accommodation. The majority will be publicly funded through the education bodies. That is what we want to encourage.

They are managed to a high standard. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, and I have visited some of the new accommodation in UCD and Maynooth. It is built to a very high standard and there are many services on site. Many conditions are attached to them and the student accommodation is designed in a certain way to minimise the disruption which the Deputy claims happens regularly. It is purpose built. I have been in student accommodation all over the area for many reasons over many years. Trust me, it is much better developed in a co-ordinated way and designed for students in the first place and it fits in much better.

Homelessness Strategy

Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceist:

8. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on whether his plans to deliver social housing via the private sector are adequate in view of the increasing numbers of those in homeless services and those awaiting housing; his further views on whether they will result in homeless figures reducing and secure tenancies being provided for those awaiting homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8951/17]

The lamentable saga of the Government's failure to deal with the escalating housing and homelessness emergency continues. I put it to the Minister that his housing proposals, figures and plans are, at best, a mirage and, at worst, entirely bogus. They are based overwhelmingly on dependence on a private sector incapable of delivering, in the new lingo, "housing solutions".

The Government has been in place only less than a year. We have had a new housing and homelessness strategy in place since last summer, only approximately seven months ago. Since then, we have committed nearly €5.5 billion to providing a very significantly increased number of social houses. We will build approximately 26,000 of the 47,000 that will be coming in. We will provide the others through acquisition and long-term leasing arrangements. There is nothing bogus. There is no fantasy. There will be a dramatic increase in the amount of social housing that will be provided through building, long-term leases, bringing voids back into use and acquisitions. Last year alone we spent €203 million buying more than 1,000 properties that were largely vacant to bring them back into social housing use. We launched the numbers, and the Deputy should look at where they are going to be built and the timelines for them. A total of 8,430 social houses to be constructed are at various stages in the pipeline.

I share the Deputy's frustration. We need to increase dramatically the number of social houses available to local authorities to house people on housing lists and get families out of emergency accommodation in hotels and individual rough sleepers into Housing First models with the supports they need. It cannot happen overnight, and most people understand this. There is a sense of urgency in my Department and in most local authorities to ramp up capacity significantly and to get building, and it is happening. We have increased the funding for housing by 50% from last year to this year and all the money will be spent on construction, acquisition, bringing voids back into use and strategically using publicly owned landbanks in a much more proactive and aggressive way to get more social houses into the system. That is what I am responsible for and it is happening.

Fine Gael has not been in government for one year, but for six years. During the past two weeks, it has broken three records, namely, the highest number of homeless people, even with a child becoming homeless every five hours, the highest rent increase since daft.ie started keeping records, and the lowest number of council houses delivered in any one year. In his document, the Minister mentioned the 8,000. I looked through the document and noticed that I know the person who lives in one of these houses that are supposedly new constructions in Shankill. Strangely, the person has been living there for years. It was not a new construction but the refurbishment of a house for a family with a severely disabled child who have been awaiting it for years. It is the same family.

The new lingo is "housing solutions". Given that most of those housing solutions are rental accommodation scheme, RAS, or housing assistance payment, HAP, solutions, the Minister is double counting. In many cases, individuals are being bumped from one RAS tenancy to another and then another, and this is being counted as three or four housing solutions although it is the same family not getting a housing solution at all.

What really matters here is the number of new additions to the social housing stock. Based on the Minister's figures for last year, there were only 2,192 new additions to social housing stock. There were approximately 2,500 refurbishments, which brings it up to 4,000. This means 75% of the 18,000 social housing solutions are private rental units leased for two, four or ten years. Deputy Boyd Barrett is right. The figures from the Minister's Department show a chronic over-reliance on private sector solutions, not a significant increase in social housing.

Deputy Boyd Barrett is missing a number of issues. He quoted rapidly increasing rental figures. We responded to it in legislation and with the new rental strategy in December. There was a problem and we are responding to it. He was wrong when he said a record low number of social housing units were delivered last year. That is not right. There was a significant increase on the previous year. I am interested in getting people who need homes into a secure tenancy or a home while we ramp up construction capacity in delivering thousands of projects throughout the country.

Some 12,000 two-year HAP tenancies are not secure.

Last year the target for social housing solutions was 17,000. We provided 18,300. This year the target will be more than 21,000. Many of them are HAP tenancies, but there is nothing wrong with that.

The majority of them are HAP tenancies and they are not secure.

They are secure. They are much more secure than the alternative.

HAP and RAS are not housing solutions. They are not secure.

RAS is slightly more secure than HAP. Laurie, who is severely disabled, and Fergus have been in three of these tenancies during the past two years. They have been bumped from pillar to post, given that the landlord can pull out any time.

The landlord cannot pull out any time.

Gemma is on her second RAS tenancy and will be evicted in August. How many more housing solutions will she have? All of those are counted as housing solutions. We have double counting. The Minister's proposal up to 2021 is to have 65,000 HAP tenancies, all private sector, 5,000 RAS and approximately 23,000 leasing solutions, none of them secure. They will make a lot of money for the landlords and IRES REIT, which is making a fortune.

None of them will be secure and they would cost about €1 billion a year by 2021, even if the Minister's plans succeed. They are not secure public housing, or social housing or anything of the kind.

Deputy Boyd Barrett seems to think that it is possible to provide housing solutions overnight for everyone on the housing list by building houses for everyone in some kind of fantasy world. That is not the way it works.

I have heard that story for six years.

No. We are now committing to building 26,000 social houses throughout the State with approved housing bodies, AHBs, and with local authorities. We are putting long-term tenancies in place for many other people and we are making a significant number of acquisitions. If we bring voids - vacant properties that are not being used - back into use and if they become used, then that is an addition to the social housing stock that is now being used.

Putting an adaption onto a unit is not building a new house.

People are voting with their feet with regard to HAP tenancies. I believe an extra 12,000 or 13,000 people came in to HAP tenancies last year-----

People had no choice-----

Please, allow the Minister an opportunity to respond.

HAP tenancies are a significant improvement on the alternative-----

-----but to move from the rent supplement.

The Minister's time is up. We must move on.

Can I answer the question?

You can, but I am not going to delay.

Someone who has not even asked the question is interrupting me.

If they are not prepared to listen-----

I am listening.

Please, listen to the Minister.

The social housing solutions we need to put in place for individuals and families are across a series of different schemes and support programmes. Some the provision is in the private rental market and HAP tenancies are significantly more secure than previous options such as rent supplement and so on. Ultimately, the core issue is that while we increase our social housing stock, we must put solutions in place to provide significant security of tenure and this is why HAP has been a success in the past 12 months.

Deputy Boyd Barrett has no answers.

Question No. 9 replied to with Written Answers.

Approved Housing Bodies

Barry Cowen

Ceist:

10. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on whether approved housing bodies have sufficient staffing or administrative capacity to undertake a larger role in the provision of social housing; and if he will consider giving staffing grants to these bodies to increase their capacity. [9017/17]

This question relates to approved housing bodies, AHBs. I asked the Tánaiste earlier about the progress on the regulatory framework and at what stage the Bill associated with approved housing bodies is. For the Minister to be happy, perhaps he could clarify his position on the capacity of approved housing bodies to deal with their responsibilities in contributing towards the provision of social housing. Will the Minister please elaborate on this?

The Government’s Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness recognises the key contribution that AHBs have to make to the delivery of housing supports in Ireland, building on their track record in terms of both housing provision and management. There are 546 approved housing bodies, AHBs, in Ireland, ranging from small voluntary-led, community-based organisations to large-scale national organisations. Together these bodies provide in excess of 30,000 social homes. It is estimated that AHBs have the capacity to contribute around a third of the 47,000 new social housing units that are targeted over the period to 2021 using a range of delivery methods. To support this, almost €1 billion of capital funding has been secured in order that AHBs can build and acquire new social housing units. This funding will be made available over the lifetime of the action plan through my Department’s capital assistance scheme and the capital advance leasing facility. In addition, a further sum amounting to almost €1 billion in current funding under the social housing current expenditure programme has been secured for the cost of payment and availability agreements and leases over the lifetime of the action plan.

The Government is committed to supporting the AHB sector to play a central role in the effort to meet social housing needs, in conjunction with local housing authorities. I stress to all the councillors, when we meet them, that we want that relationship between them and approved housing bodies to be strengthened. Councillors feel that they want to be closer to the AHBs, and we would agree with that.

The significant funding being provided for new housing delivery will enable AHBs to increase their revenue flows, including from rent, allowing them to enhance their staffing capacity. Other commitments in Rebuilding Ireland aimed at supporting the sector include the establishment of an innovation fund to support the development by AHBs of innovative financial models, such as special purpose vehicles or mutual bodies. We will also bring forward legislation in the coming months to provide for a statutory regulator to oversee the effective governance and financial management of AHBs. This issue has been raised today and we are working very hard on it. It is hoped that will be achieved in the next couple of months.

One of the committed actions of the Strategy for the Rental Sector, published in December, is the establishment an expert group to support the development of a not-for-profit rental sector in Ireland, addressing issues such as the need to grow the necessary institutional capacity, particularly within the AHB sector, whether through mergers, new entrants or strategic partnerships. I am expecting that this group will report by the end of the year.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Approved housing bodies are provided for within Rebuilding Ireland and, along with local authorities and the private sector, can have a substantial role in the delivery and construction of social housing units to meet the demand that has been placed upon the State. I do not believe that we have explored or catered for the potential that exists for joint ventures. I am conscious of this week's announcement of the venture between Cairn Homes and NAMA. It is a good development and should be expanded upon by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the private sector in order for State-owned lands and local authority lands to be put to use as soon as is practicable.

It has come to my attention that there are up to 500 acres in south County Dublin that are zoned for residential use and are serviced but are not in use. There is no potential for this land to be put to use in the short to medium term. As the Minister said earlier, the effort and the commitment exist but there appear to be logjams. We need to identify those logjams as quickly as humanly possible with the special delivery units in local authorities in order that we can provide for opening those logjams. If we need legislation, then let us hear about it and pass it. Let us assure the public that this can be dealt with in the short term as well and the medium to long term.

I note also the Deputy's question from earlier. Our key planning personnel and the housing delivery team in the Department are looking at all those sites. They look, site by site, at Dublin, Cork and other towns and cities to see how we can activate these sites. They are bringing the various players together and are identifying so-called pathfinder sites. We are actively asking. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, and I have told local authorities that this is what we want to see happening: public and private sites brought together in co-operation. This could be local authorities working with the private sector or with approved housing bodies to bring forward sites that can deliver the mixed tenure that Deputy Coppinger spoke of earlier. That is what we want to achieve. There is great potential and the funding is in place. We have provided other funding to activate these sites with regard to infrastructure.

The potential exists and we are doing a lot of work to co-ordinate this at departmental level. We will see results because there is great potential to deliver thousands of houses on many of the lands that have been identified. The Deputy is right to say the key is to try to activate lands that are available by bringing all the players together, including NAMA and others. I am glad the activity of AHBs - their loan approval and drawdown - has been greatly increased in 2016 compared with 2015, and we expect a similar result in 2017 also. We want to activate all the different measures and, ideally, bring in other resources that are off balance sheet, which is what we are trying to do.

I am informed by councillors that last year some local authorities undertook tender processes known as competitive expressions of interest. I sought information from many local authorities and I would hope to have it soon. I asked if they could definitively lay out to us with regard to their efforts to seek expressions of interest how many proposals were put before them, how many were accepted, how many were refused and why they were refused. This is in order for the Minister and his Department to adjudicate properly and effectively on that process. It would help us to find out where they have moved since and why they have not moved any further. It would create an opportunity to provide us with the tools to break down these obvious logjams.

I said earlier today that Rebuilding Ireland was produced with the best of intent and with a wide-ranging consultation process with all stakeholders and with the committee here with a view to addressing the issue once and for all. Unfortunately, however, in the actual implementation of it, we are falling down in getting from the expressions of interest to building on the ground. The Government has said that 8,500 social housing units are under construction, but the Minister of State and I both know that there are certain schemes within that figure that are two years in the making and they still have not broken any ground on site. That is why we need to find a way of addressing that. People may get behind us.

The key to that is in changing the process of how the Department interacts with the local authorities in bringing forward projects. We have reduced the timing a lot in that regard. Our people are available to have meetings in the offices of the local authorities as often as they want to drive projects on. In all cases they have cut those timelines. Some of the projects that were hanging around for years have now been moved on, and rightly so. We have a view of them now.

Even the publication last week of that list means everybody can track them, including every local authority and every local authority member, who we stress need to take a more active role in tracking this. They can ask the questions, push it through and, it is hoped, get these sites delivered more quickly, which is what we are trying to do. There is a large site in south Dublin which has been progressing quite well under the new initiative and the results have been positive.

I am aware of the statistics from the local authorities that have put out expressions of interest. We try to give them advice on how to advertise for that. I am disappointed with the number coming back in from the private sector as I would have thought there was a lot more potential. However, anywhere we see potential we will try to work with the local authorities, and the departmental staff are there to try to move these things along as quickly as possible. That is our commitment under the action plan for housing, namely, to make it happen a lot more quickly and to cut through those timelines. It can happen because the resources and finances are available and it is now a question of activating the sites.

Local authorities have to drive this. We have asked them to do it and we have met them individually to make it happen. While I believe it will, it is at an early stage in the process and some of them have advertised only recently. I know the Minister, Deputy Coveney, wants to add his own view.

We must move to the next question.

Could we just change the rules? It is taking nine minutes a question. If we changed the rules, we could live with it.

Question No. 11 replied to with Written Answers.

Private Rented Accommodation Standards

Mick Wallace

Ceist:

12. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the immediate measures his Department is taking to improve the enforcement of standards in the private rental sector and the standardisation of the reporting of compliance and resolutions by local authorities in response to recent reports in a newspaper (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9020/17]

My question is on the enforcement of standards in the private rental sector and the standardisation of the reporting of compliance and resolutions by local authorities. The National Oversight and Audit Commission's private rental sector review of 2014 showed that six local authorities reported 100% failure rates in regard to minimum standards of inspected private rental properties. Wexford's failure rate was 83.1%, yet Wexford County Council informs us that its inspections are reactive only as it does not have the resources for proactive inspections. Will the Minister consider doing something about this?

The Strategy for the Rental Sector, published last December, recognises that the quality of rental accommodation is critical to the success and sustainability of the residential rental sector and its attractiveness as a long-term accommodation option for households. A key commitment in the strategy was to review the regulations governing minimum standards in rented accommodation to bring them into line with modern requirements. That review has been completed and, on 27 January, I signed the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2017. These new regulations will come into operation generally on 1 July 2017, replacing the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008 and the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) (Amendment) Regulations 2009.

All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure their rented properties comply with the regulations. Responsibility for enforcement of the regulations rests with the relevant local authority. The findings and recommendations of the National Oversight and Audit Commission’s report, Rented Houses Inspections - A Review of Local Authority Performance of Private Rented Houses Regulations Functions, were carefully considered in the development of the strategy and have informed the actions put forward. The inspection capacity of local authorities will be strengthened to increase the number and frequency of inspections.  In addition to the updated regulations, procedures for a more efficient, standardised and transparent inspections and enforcement approach across all local authority areas will be introduced. Specific ring-fenced funding for inspections will be provided from 2018 onwards, with the aim of achieving a 25% annual inspection coverage of rental properties by 2021.

There is an acceptance that there is a problem that needs to be resolved. Different local authorities have very different levels of performance in terms of enforcing standards and inspections. We are putting funding in place to try to correct that.

I am glad changes are coming, although I do not understand why it is being postponed until 2018. To highlight the problem, I note that in 2013, Wexford County Council inspected 1,075 private rented properties, but in 2015, it was 240 properties, and in 2016, it was 201. It just does not have the staff. There is a problem in regard to exactly who is going to inspect the properties, whether they are qualified or trained, and what they are trained in. It is a big area. The quality of a person's house has a lot to do with the quality of their life. The Government wants to promote the private rental sector, which is fine, but it does very little about quality. While changes are coming, will they be enough and will local authorities be given enough money to enable to them to carry out the inspections properly and introduce a really transparent system? If a place is inspected and recommendations are made but the landlord does not make the required changes, there is no follow-up. Will that be addressed as well?

As I said, we have just put new regulations in place in this area and there are time commitments we have committed to in the rental strategy. We cannot simply ramp up the level of inspections overnight because, as the Deputy said, in some local authorities either the systems or the staff simply are not in place. We are trying to put a realistic timeframe in place whereby we can put systems, people and management in place to make sure we get gradually improving figures year on year in order that, by 2021, each local authority will be meeting the target of inspecting one quarter of the rental properties in its area in a year. We are a long way from that now. The averages are in the low single figures in most local authority areas so we need to ramp up capacity. There is a whole series of areas where we currently have a ramping up of capacity in terms of construction, the planning system and the engineering capacity within local authorities because a lot more money is being spent now than was the case until a few years ago. This is part of the wider process. The regulations are now in place and we will put the management systems in place to enforce them.

We can agree that the lack of enforcement up to now has been a big problem.

I do not disagree with that.

Likewise, people say we do not have good regulation for building in Ireland. I keep saying we have powerful regulation for building in Ireland but we do not enforce it. The lack of enforcement is killing us and is having a big impact on the quality of the units that are delivered.

The Minister referred to the different supply but I believe he is missing the point. He is talking about the short term and he said it is impossible to build social houses overnight. However, in the long term we should be looking at having more of the social housing stock built by local authorities.

The Minister spoke about the three areas of social, private and affordable rental. What about affordable private? Getting NAMA to do deals with Cairn Homes, Hines and those fellows means we are looking at units coming in at more than €300,000. With affordable private, where the State is involved directly, they will be supplied at €200,000 per unit on State land. I do not understand why the Government does not take that on board and move in that direction.

We will look at any sensible suggestions people have and we will test them. If they make sense, we will try to incorporate them into the housing plan. That is why we are looking at affordable rental models in Dublin at the moment, and we will do it in other parts of the country as well if it makes sense. We have to do it case by case and it is not a question of opening up a new category that would be demand led because we do not have funding approval for that. We will look to create affordable rental developments, especially around build-to-rent developments in the centre of Dublin city. We need to create affordable accommodation options for people who otherwise have to live as far away as Portlaoise and commute to Dublin every day, which does not make sense on many levels. If the Deputy has any suggestions, we will be happy to take them on board.

Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

13. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to increase eligibility income limits for social housing, particularly in areas such as counties Cavan and Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8826/17]

I have been raising with the Minister for some time the need to raise the income eligibility limits for social housing. In too many instances we hear from constituents who were on the housing list but who were taken off it when they went back to work. The eligibility band for the Cavan-Monaghan area is the lowest in the country and it needs to be improved. We are penalising people who are working.

The Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 prescribe maximum net income limits for each housing authority, in different bands according to the area, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard household means policy. The income bands and the authority area assigned to each band were based on an assessment of the income needed to provide for a household's basic needs plus a comparative analysis of the local rent cost of housing accommodation across the country. The limits also reflect a blanket increase of €5,000 introduced prior to the new system coming into operation to broaden the base from which social housing tenants are drawn and thereby promote sustainable communities.

Given the cost to the State of providing social housing, it is considered prudent and fair to direct resources to those most in need of social housing support. I am satisfied that the current income eligibility requirements generally achieve this. They provide for a fair and equitable system of identifying those households unable to provide accommodation from their own resources. These income limits will continue to be kept under review by my Department as part of the broader social housing reform agenda set out in the Social Housing Strategy 2020.

Could the Minister give us an assurance that they will be reviewed without further delay? I recently brought a young couple to my local authority. The young man is an apprentice while his partner is, unfortunately, out of work and receiving a jobseeker's payment. The couple have a child. They are not eligible for a council house. We are talking about being prudent and fair. Is it prudent and fair that the council does not have discretion when it comes to this couple who are slightly above the income limit? I understand that. This is in an area like Cavan-Monaghan. Anybody who is fortunate enough to return to the labour force is being penalised. We need a mix of people in different social housing schemes. The Minister spoke about sustainable communities. We all want to see that but the income limits that are being applied make it impossible for many people on low incomes to qualify for local authority housing. We need to change that.

The Deputy gives the example of an apprentice whose partner is on social welfare. If they are not qualifying, I would like to see the detail of that. I am not saying I do not believe the Deputy. Of course, I believe him but that does not seem to be the target market we are looking to try to support here. People on low incomes who are making the effort to get out and work need to be supported by the State in terms of their housing needs just like people on social welfare who are either unable to work or cannot find employment. We will review income thresholds but we cannot review them on the basis of individual counties. There must be a standardised process. Otherwise it becomes a political exercise, which is dangerous.

But there are zones. Cavan-Monaghan is a different-----

There are zones and bands in different areas.

The band in Cavan-Monaghan is extremely low. That is what I am concerned about. I know there must be a comparable increase as well but it needs to be reviewed based on my experience in my constituency.

I will take a look at it and revert to the Deputy.

Question No. 14 replied to with Written Answers.

Homeless Persons Supports

Jan O'Sullivan

Ceist:

15. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if the issues that delayed the roll out of free transport to and from school for children living in emergency accommodation, including hotels, have been addressed; if free travel is now available as committed to in Rebuilding Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7136/17]

We are all aware that homeless families living in hotels are under huge strain. In many cases, their children must go to school in the areas where they used to live. There was an announcement on 19 July 2016 that they would get free travel to and from school, which was very welcome. I raised the matter in October and was told it would be a few weeks. I raised it in December and I was told that it was to be in the new year. I hope the Minister will have positive news and that this free travel is now available to those families.

I would like to read the following positive response into the record. I recognise that transport costs can be an additional burden upon homeless families residing in hotel accommodation in lieu of an alternative form of emergency accommodation. Accordingly, the Rebuilding Ireland action plan on housing and Homelessness outlined an initiative to provide access to free public transport for family travel and for school journeys. The initiative is being targeted at homeless families residing in hotel accommodation in the Dublin region. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, is overseeing the arrangements. Five separate 24-hour family Leap cards were made available to all homeless families residing in hotels in the Dublin region during 2016. These cards were to facilitate family days out and were valid for use on all Dublin transport systems. Over 500 families availed of this support.

With regard to free public transport for school journeys, I understand from the DRHE that it has finalised arrangements with the National Transport Authority to provide for Leap cards specifically tailored for this initiative. An order has been placed for their delivery and distribution will commence by the end of this month with Focus Ireland facilitating the distribution via its family homeless action teams. In the interim, a number of families have been accessing the Department of Social Protection's general scheme of exceptional needs payments relating to financial support for travel. The arrangements are now in place and the cards will be going out to families.

I welcome that announcement because I have been pressing this issue for quite some time. I hope the arrangements will be very swift.

Inadvertently, two questions were being taken together but, obviously, were not taken together.

My question was before Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's question.

They were listed as being grouped.

Questions Nos. 14 and 16 were grouped. The Minister is trying to make out that RAS and the HAP are as secure as local authority-built social housing.

I heard the Minister say it to Deputy Boyd Barrett. I am glad the Minister is not saying it. I know the Minister is probably tired of hearing this but the dependence on the private rental sector to provide homes to people in the long term is not as good a proposition as local authority-built social housing. The truth is that more and more people will need social housing because they will not be able to afford private housing. To expand on my point about affordable private housing, we have State land. Local authorities can provide housing for €200,000 and sell it to people at that price rather than asking NAMA to do deals with developers to sell it for €300,000. I do not understand why the Government will not do that.

The Deputy strikes me as a pragmatist in terms of trying to put solutions in place. There are 91,000 people on housing lists across the country. We cannot simply build 91,000 social houses. We are building as many social houses as we can build at a pace that is increasing significantly relative to recent years. A total of 8,500 social houses at various different stages to be constructed have been approved. In the meantime, we need to provide at least 21,000 social housing solutions this year. Part of those numbers will be HAP tenancies which, for the most part, are five or ten-year tenancies that provide suitable accommodation that is far more secure than rent supplement would have been in the past or some other alternative accommodation. Not everybody wants or is looking for a social house. Some people are looking for it while others are not. It depends on their conditions, where they are working and how long they are going to stay there so the mix will always involve the private rental market. I concede that there has been an over-reliance on the private rental market in the past and we need to increase our social housing stock significantly but you cannot do everything overnight. While we will increase our social housing stock by around 50,000 over the next five years, we need to provide many of the housing solutions that require State intervention through initiatives like the HAP.

Written Answers are published on the Oireachtas website.
Barr
Roinn