Richard Boyd Barrett: Demands Permanent Housing Action After COVID

Minister, there have been some positive measures taken in the face of the health emergency, freezing rent increases and stopping eviction, something previously said couldn't be done, and some decongregation of emergency hubs and allocations, but why couldn't it have been done before if it can be done now? Is it going to be permanent for those people, or people who've been given welcome, owned or accommodation, will they stay in that once the pandemic is over? And can I really put it to you that, because I really thought about this today when I saw a really obnoxious video about the sort of tale of two COVIDs in this country when it comes to housing. A video of Johnny Ronan, Celtic Tiger property developer, who's got all his Nama, land back from us, whose name is plastered over development sites all over this city, making an absolute fortune while people are suffering from homelessness. You're here long enough to know it's in order today. And mocking people with COVID, and making light of the work of our nurses, enjoying himself in South Africa, while I have to deal with people like Brian, who's 70, and who's living in a shed, because the only, and who's 70, should be cocooning, but whose only accommodation he's offered is a hostel in town, when he's living in Dun Laoghaire. Or Anthony, who's living in a tent, in Stalorgan, because he doesn't meet the criteria to get his own door accommodation. Or another woman who I met, whose partner did get own door accommodation in Temple Bar, delighted with it, but she didn't meet the criteria, his partner, to get own door accommodation and is in shared accommodation in a hostel with four other people she doesn't know. Which is against, contrary to CMO advice. Now you see, that's the contrast for me, Keankorla, that is highlighted vividly in this crisis. People in South Africa are making money from the housing crisis, mocking the pandemic, and then there's the people at the sharp end of all of this. And I just hope, Minister, and want to know that the policies now are going to change, that this has changed your attitude towards housing provision. That it should not be about people like these Celtic Tiger developers and speculators, but it should be permanent measures to eliminate the housing crisis, and things like co-living. I mean, imagine some of those co-living developments were in place now, built by some of those same Celtic Tiger developments. Are they going to stop? Just stop. Because they're unsafe, and only built for profit, and we're going to build housing for people, the people who really need it, at affordable prices. That's what I want to know. Thank you, Keankorla, and thank you, Deputy, for those questions, and thanks for acknowledging the good measures that have been taken. I mean, to talk to the people on the front lines, in the NGOs, and in the local authorities, they're doing everything they can, and it's really admirable. I mean, they did it anyway, they did it all the time, and they're once again stepping up in this crisis, and as a result of their work, people are safe today who might end up being safe had they not have done it. And I don't think we can thank them enough. I'm trying to establish at the moment what can be permanent and what can't. So, what can we buy? What can we long-term lease in terms of actual properties that we've been able to secure on a temporary basis at the moment? What can we actually do on a longer-term basis? Because some of the accommodation is in the right location, it's the right type of accommodation, and, you know, we could really use it into the future. So, that piece of work is happening at the moment. I've asked the NGOs to give me their inputs from the different NGO bodies that are service delivery providers. And also with the Dublin Regional Homes Executive, so that as we lift the restrictions, that we can look at, hold on to as much as we can. Now, we won't be able to hold on to all the hotel spaces, we know that. So, that might be the first challenge that we'll face in terms of where the people who are in hotels, as hotels look to open back up again, if they can, and when they can, where they will go. And the second piece is around what we've been able to secure that might have been used for short-term letting, shouldn't have been, and won't be into the future. Can we now secure it for long-term leasing for ourselves, for people either in emergency accommodation or people on the social housing list? And we're looking at that at the moment. But we also need to see what needs to be permanent are those arrangements that I've talked about between ourselves and health and some others that have just really, really made a big, significant difference to people's lives in terms of outcomes. And they have to remain in place. Thank you, Minister Deputy Paul Murphy. Thanks.