Richard Boyd Barrett: Condemns 'Obscene' Rise in Child and Family Homelessness

Minister, I asked for this debate, weeks on end in the Business Committee, asking for this debate. We finally got here. So it takes this long just to get a debate on what is an absolute disaster. And the Minister for Housing said when he came into office that child and family homelessness was his priority. The Government have repeatedly said this is the biggest social emergency facing them. And yet, tomorrow, we are going to have the new homelessness figures and the likelihood is that those figures will reach close to 17,000 people in emergency accommodation. Maybe even exceed that figure with 5,000 of those being children. An obscene level of child and family homelessness. And we are breaking the records pretty much every month in terms of the hardship and the suffering that has been imposed on families, on children and individuals in homelessness, or facing homelessness, or in crisis housing situations. And it seems to me that the Government is normalising it. I mean, there can be no other explanation for allowing homelessness climb to the levels that you've allowed it. In a housing crisis that has been acknowledged, it took a while for you to acknowledge it, for Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Governments to acknowledge it. I remember when some of us were using the term crisis back in 2012 and 2013, we were being dismissed. Eventually, there was an acknowledgement more than 12 years ago that there was a crisis, not an emergency. I don't know if the Government is willing even now to use the word emergency to describe the absolute disaster that is facing so many people in housing crisis situations, or who are actually homelessness. But you've allowed the situation to deteriorate and get worse, so it seems to me that you do actually want to normalise the situation and just get us used to it. And probably, you know, the media at this point will sort of ignore this debate now, because even they're being inured to, there's just going to be a permanent state of housing misery in this country. I just want to use the brief time available to me to highlight some of the cases, because the reason I get so exercised about this is because of the people who come in to me. So let's give a few examples, just to highlight the failure of the Government. Suzanne is nine years on the housing list. She has three kids, ten, four and two. Her ten-year-old has additional needs. Her two-year-old has a heart condition. She's going to be homeless on Saturday, when she has to hand back her keys on foot of a notice to quit, where her landlord is selling the property. She's done nothing wrong. This will be the third time she will be homeless in five years. Third time. She herself grew up in care, with no family support network. She has been on to the Council repeatedly about her situation, and she's told they don't even have homeless accommodation for somebody who's nine years on the list, facing the third stint of homelessness, and she's been told she would probably have to ring the emergency hours homeless number when she is made homeless on Saturday. I mean, it's despicable. That's despicable, that she could be in this situation again with her children. Cuiva, eight and a half years on the housing list. Three children, nine, four and two, living in damp and mouldy homeless accommodation for almost ten months. Her two-year-old was taken to hospital with pneumonia during the winter. She was previously in homeless accommodation in 2021. She found a hap property and lived there for four years, and now is being made homeless, was then made homeless again. Her daughter at Christmas time asked for only one thing from Santa, a home of her own. I mean, this is just disgusting stuff. That she and her child have to go through this again, are going through this again. Vera, with her partner and her three children, two of whom have disabilities, is in homeless accommodation in Monkstown now for over six months. The HSC have visited and deemed the accommodation inappropriate for her disabled children. She's submitted multiple letters of consultants urging the council to house them. The children are really suffering in the homeless accommodation. She's submitted a medical priority form, a HMD form, ten months ago. It still has not been adjudicated on. The family are in an absolute crisis. And the list goes on. Julianne, homeless now, with her two children for more than two years, in her second homeless accommodation. Currently sharing a bed with her nine-year-old son, and her daughter, who is 14, is now refusing to go to school. Saoirse, who's in a hub for a year, came in to me, described how she has been suicidal. A son with autism on a two-bedroom list, still awaiting to be processed on the HMD form. And the list just goes on. And this is just my office. Just a snapshot in my office of cases I'm dealing with. These are all on, by the way, three or two-bedroom, most of them on three-bedroom lists. There's almost no three-bedroom houses in the pipeline in Dunleary-Ratdown, because the private developers are mostly building one- and two-bedroom. Not really interested in three-bedroom. They can get more one- and two-bedroom units. So families are absolutely in a dire, dire situation. And the government says it's their priority. What are they going to do for these families? The tenancy-situ scheme has slowed to a snail's pace. So those facing eviction, that one possible hope for some of them, not happening. And you think about them trying to find a HAP in this situation, with rents now, in my area, for three bedrooms, €3,200. And they're now going to all go up to that level. Any tenancies that end will now all go up to that level in my area. So there's no chance even of the HAP outlet. As difficult as it was to find a HAP previously, now there will be no HAPs within the limits. Or anywhere even close to the limits. Then we have older people. Tommy and Bridie. A couple being evicted from their home they've rented for for the past poor years. They're aged 69 and 77, respectively. And are absolutely terrified of what's coming down the line. They've been on the older person's housing list for seven years. The council giving them no reassurance and just told them that they're number 38 on the list. And, you know, obviously terrified that as older people at those ages they're going to end up in emergency accommodation. Both of them have health issues. Bridie has had part of her lung removed as a result of cancer. And her breathing is affected. Tommy has macular degeneration and is almost completely blind in one eye with deteriorating sight in the other. He also has type 2 diabetes. I mean, the thought of these people going into a hostel in town. It's just, I mean, it's disgusting. Gary, living in private rented for years. Current place on, he's on rent allowance for 14 years. The council are disputing how long he's been on the list. He's got chronic arthritis and rheumatism. But that nor his age don't qualify him to be prioritised by the council. His attempt to be prioritised has been rejected. Older people are not on CBL, so he has no idea how long he will wait. Joan, aged 84, I knew her husband died a few years ago, lived in Dunleary. All her life was evicted on the 20th of January. We were in touch with the council, but there was nothing that could be found for her. She's staying now with a family member in Waterford. So we've got families, we've got children, we've got older, sick and vulnerable people in homeless accommodation, homeless or facing homelessness. Then, of course, there's those suffering from domestic violence. I won't mention the names here, except to say a woman who has two children, viciously attacked by her ex-partner, who's awaiting trial for the attack. The youngest child witnessed the attack and is traumatised. He's attacked at her apartment, despite a protection order. Tried repeatedly to get priority housing through the council, but to no avail, even though she's fleeing domestic violence. Another woman escaped violent, abusive partners, been couchsurfing for the last, between two homes, waiting over six months for her HMD form to be assessed. So, now we have children, we have families, we have older people, and we have women fleeing and children fleeing domestic violence. And then, of course, there's people who go over the list, who go over the threshold. Ian is also, he's lived in private accommodation with his partner for over 14 years. They were paying $2,300 a month. They've been issued with a notice to quit and are becoming very desperate because they can't find anything within their price range. $2,300, as you might imagine, pretty much stretches them. But now, of course, rents for the same property will be over $3,000. Marginally over the limit for social housing, therefore not entitled to HAP or any assistance or any prospect of a social home. Went in for the few lotteries for cost rental, but, of course, they didn't get them because there's massive oversubscription for those. And then there's Ben, a young man who came in to me, a very nice young man in his 20s, working for the council. But he's €1,500 over the threshold, which, by the way, hasn't been moved for three years. So he'd been on the housing list. But he has to pay €250 every two weeks in maintenance to his partner, but that is still assessed against his income. If that wasn't assessed, he would be below the threshold and he wouldn't be knocked off the list. By the way, that same money who's given to his partner, she's assessed on it as well, which is double counting of the maintenance. So I think you get the point, Minister. You get the point, right? Where's the effort to stop people being homeless? The only thing you've done that's meaningful is to guarantee that their prospect of finding private rental accommodation in my area and the whole of South Dublin and huge parts of the country is now going to be totally impossible because the rents will all go up to €3,000, €3,200. I mean, it was very hard before, but now it just won't happen. So the likelihood of those people escaping from homelessness is gone. And yet everything you're seen to be doing, not lifting the thresholds, not controlling the rents, is making it more likely they stay in this homelessness misery in conditions that are just totally, totally unacceptable. You could do something about it. You could stop evictions. You could put real rent controls in. You could take aggressive action against people who are land hoarding and speculating. You could prioritise the provision of more social housing, raise the thresholds. There are a lot of things you're doing, you could do, but you just don't seem to care. It seems as if you just want to normalise this horrendous situation. Thank you, Deputy. The next speaker is Deputy...