Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 November 2022
308. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on the violation of the right to adequate housing (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57950/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn relation to concerns around the adequacy of certain local authority housing, my Department is committed to ensuring that tenants in social housing are provided with adequate housing that meets the standards most recently laid down in the Housing (Standards For Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. All landlords including social housing landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these regulations. In the case of social housing tenancies this responsibility falls on the relevant local authority where the property is located.
My Department is actively engaging with the local authority sector to promote the preventative maintenance of local authority housing stock. In addition to funding provided by the local authorities themselves in respect of their own housing stock, my Department provides funding across a number of programmes to support the local authority work to maintain and improve their social housing stock; in all cases, it is the local authorities that identify priorities. The continued work of local authorities in undertaking stock condition surveys, their responsive and planned maintenance programmes, as well as important on-going programmes such as the National Regeneration, Energy Retrofitting and Voids programmes continue to improve local authority housing stock and address the issues raised with the European Committee of Social Rights.
My Department is keenly aware of the importance of statistics with regard to local authority housing standards and has therefore been engaging with the local authority sector to ensure that full and standardised stock condition surveys are completed on the entire local authority housing stock over the next 4 to 5 years. To that end, a national standardised stock condition survey template has been agreed by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA). Procurement of a centrally hosted asset management system to capture the results of the surveys and inform future work programmes is being advanced. It is expected that the LGMA will commence a pilot of the ICT infrastructure early 2023 with subsequent rollout to all local authorities in the second half of 2023. This initiative will help local authorities fulfil their legal obligations under Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. In 2022 €5 million in Exchequer funding has been ring-fenced to support this work.
In line with commitments in the Programme for Government and Housing for All: A New Housing Plan for Ireland, The Housing Commission was established by Government in December 2021 to independently examine and review the housing system in Ireland. The Commission’s Terms of Reference cover a wide range of issues connected to housing, one of which is to propose appropriate wording for a referendum on housing and to consider the complex constitutional issues arising in this area.
As part this process the Commission held a dedicated Conference in May 2022 and launched a public consultation on 1 July, which concluded on Friday 2 September. The purpose of the consultation was to encourage as many people as possible to have their say in respect of a referendum on housing in Ireland. More than 2,000 submissions have been received and I understand that the Commission is pleased that there has been a broad response from members of the public, tenants, landlords, public representatives, organisations involved in housing, the charity sector, the community & voluntary sector, people working in related policy and legal areas and elsewhere. The majority of submissions received came from the general public and reflect a range of disparate views which will greatly assist the Commission in its task of providing independent advice to the government on a potential constitutional amendment. The submissions are being analysed to inform the Commission’s deliberations on a proposed wording for a referendum. The submissions will provide invaluable input from the public and stakeholders to assist the Commission in its task of providing independent advice to the government.
The proposed timeline for a referendum on housing will be a matter for Government to consider following receipt of the proposed wording from the Commission.
