Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 March 2022
109. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his response to the rising levels of homelessness and, in particular, the rising levels of family homelessness caused by an increase in vacant possession notices to quit and the collapse of homeless exits in the past 12 months. [12315/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage published the monthly homeless figures on Friday. They showed another significant increase in the number of homeless adults, children and, in particular, families. Will the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage outline the actions he will take to reverse this clear trend since August of last year?
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. I flagged in advance that we expected an increase in homelessness over a number of months before we see it reducing again. What we have seen is of serious concern to me, the Government and all Deputies. We are acting to address it. While significant work has been done, more needs to be done. We are committed to doing that work.
I have established the national homelessness action committee and asked it to prioritise the issue of homelessness prevention and look at all avenues to address this. I have brought in a number of measures to enhance security of tenure for renters, including most recently in respect of tenancies of unlimited duration through the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2021.
The exiting of landlords from the private rental sector is a complex issue, as the Deputy and others acknowledge. Data from the Residential Tenancies Board in quarter 2 of 2019 showed the most common reason for issuing notices to quit is that the landlord intends to sell the property. We need to retain small landlords to provide much-needed accommodation and the Government will support the continued participation of small-scale landlords in the rental market. We are open to looking at further changes to ensure that can happen.
The most effective way to increase exits from homelessness in the medium to long term is to increase supply, particularly of social housing, and to accelerate supply of housing over the next decade. Significant progress is already being made under Housing for All to accelerate supply. Recent commencement figures on the social and private sides are encouraging. All additional measures we can take to address the rise in homelessness are being actively pursued.
The difficulty with the Minister's response is it does not suggest that the Government will do anything different in the short to medium term to deal with the two specific problems causing this increase in family homelessness. First, we are seeing a significant exit of landlords from the market. The Minister is right about that. They are going and will not stay. They are availing of high market prices to cease being landlords. I have heard nothing from Government on what we do to prevent the families, particularly families on the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, who are in those properties and who are at risk of homelessness.
Second, we have seen a collapse in exits from emergency accommodation, particularly in Dublin. The exits last month were 35, down from several hundred per month 18 to 24 months ago. My question does not concern what will happen in two or three years' time, if the Minister's plan works at all. What specific interventions will he make now to try to stop the flow of families into emergency accommodation and speed up exits next month, the month after and the month after that?
The Deputy is correct on exits, which have been difficult in recent months because of shrunken supply. We are affected by the lack of new supply coming in over the past two years. We could not build the number of homes we needed. Much of that was down to Covid. We will see a significant increase in social housing supply this year. We will hit our target of 9,000 new builds. That does not take into account acquisitions, the remainder of the leasing piece that will come in or vacant units coming back into use. Increased supply this year will help. We have had an issue in respect of HAP, which has been used as a mechanism to help people exit homelessness. It is needed as an emergency response but finding HAP properties for our place finder teams is more difficult.
A combined response on all these matters is needed. The national homeless action committee, which is made up of NGOs and all Departments, not just mine because we need justice, health and all those included, is focused on prevention and exiting. We are working through that. Any additional measures we can take, we will take.
There are three measures the Minister could take as a matter of urgency. First, he could lift the effective prohibition on local authorities purchasing properties where HAP or RAS tenants are in situ and have been given notices to quit. The problem, as the Minister knows, from the circular is that the councils are asked to prioritise vacant one- and four-bed properties and properties with disability adaptations in order to try to get people trapped in emergency accommodation out. There is a limit of 200 acquisitions in the capital programme for this year. We need the Minister to say to local authorities now that as an emergency measure, where a HAP or RAS tenant has a notice to quit and is at risk of homelessness, local authorities can purchase those in addition to the 200 vacant units the Minister is seeking to acquire. He could also revisit the Focus Ireland amendment to ensure that landlords who availed of tax relief to purchase buy-to-rent properties are not able to issue vacant possession notices to quit and he could work with us to fast-track matters, either by means of Government legislation or our legislation that passed Second Stage in December, namely, Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (Extension of Notice Periods) Bill 2021, which was developed in conjunction with the Simon Communities. The Minister can do these things now and I urge him to do them or these figures will continue to get worse.
There is no prohibition on the purchase of properties but we cannot have it both ways. We want to increase stock. I heard Deputies rightly criticising the Government last year for buying homes out from under first-time buyers. We have to have a balance. The figure of 200 set across the board is there but properties can be purchased in extremis. I am looking at further measures, particularly around Housing First, to allow additional properties to be purchased to come into that sector. I may look at other options.
I will provide that flexibility. I had housing summits with all directors of services for housing from all 31 local authorities last week and the week before last. The major focus was on delivery and on homelessness. Therefore, we are looking at other measures. If we can bring in changes, like allowing some flexibility on purchasing with tenants in situ, in extreme situations, I am open to that. A moral hazard can occur in such situations as well though, and I do not want local authorities just buying instead of building. The message going out from this Government is that we must increase our public housing stock substantially and that is the focus of Housing for All.
