Yesterday's budget gave a very strong indication that the Government has no concept, or sense, of the urgency of the homeless crisis in our society. The Government is not possessed of any sense of urgency in relation to it, as eloquently articulated yesterday evening by Fr. Peter McVerry in his reaction to the lack of any action in the budget on this matter. It is interesting to note that when Focus Ireland set up an action team in 2012, an average of eight new families were presenting as homeless in Dublin every month. This figure rose to 40 families per month in 2014. It has now risen to 65 to 70 families per month in the first half of 2015. More than two new families are becoming homeless every single day, yet there is no action from the Government to arrest the situation. The number of children sleeping in emergency homeless accommodation has almost doubled since October 2014. Groups such as the Simon Community, Threshold and many other non-governmental agencies are extremely frustrated by the lack of action on this particular issue.

In the immediate term, the Government could take preventative measures to prevent more families from becoming homeless by introducing rent certainty measures and increasing the rent supplement. There seems to be some extraordinary reluctance, if not a stubbornness, to move on the rent certainty issue or to increase the rent supplement. The Simon Community has stated that 92% of properties available to rent are priced beyond the reach of those in receipt of rent supplement. Will the Taoiseach explain why there was no action in yesterday's budget on homelessness? Why will the Government not make a decision on rent certainty and on increasing rent supplement for those who desperately need it to stay in a home or to get back into the housing market?

It is not acceptable that families and children, in particular, have to stay in bed and breakfast accommodation and hotel rooms.

For shame. There are 30,000 of them.

Will Deputy Keaveney stay quiet, please?

In many cases, they are quite a distance from Dublin, in particular, and the families have to travel to schools and so on, which is not acceptable. It is not true to say that there was nothing in yesterday's budget for housing. The Minister for Finance signalled that NAMA will provide 20,000 houses between now and 2020. We will open 100 sites across the country in 2016 and will deliver at the mid-point of that up to 80 houses per week. There is a requirement for 10,000 units, whether houses or apartments, in the Dublin area per annum. Only 3,300 were delivered in the past year. Having land, its own money and contractors who build for it, NAMA can provide these units and 90% of them will be provided in the Dublin area. Some 75% of the units will be houses, mainly starter homes, which NAMA will deliver through its own developers.

Last year the Government put €2.2 billion on the table to deal with this legacy issue. Yesterday, in the budget, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform added to that sum. This year €500 million is available to build or acquire new homes. The Government also increased the current allocation for social housing by a further €69 million to €440 million. Money is not the problem here.

It is ideology.

The problem is the planning regulations and the planning permission process.

The Taoiseach is the problem.

Until we deal with the question of the provision of extra houses, in reality we cannot deal with this problem.

Then deal with it.

It is not true to say that the rent supplement has not been increased. The Department of Social Protection has dealt with thousands of cases over the past period where, in individual circumstances-----

So why are people homeless?

-----the rent supplement can be increased, thereby giving certainty to both the tenant and the landlord.

Where do they get it?

It is not happening.

They cannot give it if they do not have it.

This is a complete distortion.

It is clear that interference in the market, to its detriment, is not something we should do.

While people are calling for what they call "clarity" on rent certainty, if we interfere in the wrong way, we will make matters worse.

The Government will not do anything at all.

Stage fright.

I am glad the Taoiseach told that to his Labour Party colleagues.

As was pointed out by the Minister for Finance, we had three reports in the 1980s by Mr. Peter Bacon which were supposed to sort out all of this but things actually got worse. The Government will not interfere-----

No, it never interferes.

-----in a way that will make things worse. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, is working very hard on this issue and we hope we will be able to bring in a number of measures that will improve the position.

This is not about interference. It is about action.

Believe me, I am frustrated about the fact that this is not moving in the way that one would want. We have PPPs, private builders, NAMA, social housing and modular units. Those are five issues. The money is in place and they should be moving.

The Taoiseach should have a word with Tánaiste Coonan.

With the greatest respect-----

I call Deputy Mícheál Martin. Will Deputy Cowen give his leader a chance to ask his question?

Watch Deputy Coonan watching him, a Cheann Comhairle.

Will Deputy Finian McGrath stay quiet? He is not a leader yet.

The Taoiseach said that he did not interfere but the problem has got dramatically worse.

Correct.

The number of children who are homeless has doubled since October 2014. The same applies to the number of families in emergency accommodation. That is the point. He has done nothing.

Fianna Fáil privatised social housing.

He has not interfered and it is the absence of interference which is exasperating the problem. The Taoiseach spoke about the rent supplement. A decision has not been made to increase it. He mentioned discretionary powers of welfare officers. In Limerick, only six cases were successful in the past 12 months. The Taoiseach should stop with the fig leaves.

There were 500 applications, six of which were successful.

The Taoiseach throws a sop to the poor Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, saying he is working very hard, but he is not.

A failure.

He was rebuffed by the Taoiseach and Fine Gael in the lead up to this particular budget but I am more interested in the figures since October 2014. If we look at the figures prepared by Threshold and the Simon Community , we have gone from eight families seeking emergency accommodation in October 2014 to a situation now where approximately 70 families seek such accommodation weekly. The problem with that is-----

A question, please.

-----two new families a day are now seeking emergency accommodation with no action being taken on rent certainty or on rent supplement. Rents are projected to increase by 20% in Dublin alone over the next 12 months, with thousands more repossessions in line. The banks are talking about 25,000 repossessions next year.

The inaction is the core of the issue. The Government has run out of road and ideas. There have been more announcements made than houses built. Ten local authorities did not build a single house last year. In 2009 there was approximately €670 million available.

This is Leaders' Questions. Will the Deputy, please, put his question?

That figure was reduced to €88 million last year.

It is all part of the legacy of destruction that the Deputy's party left behind it.

No, it is not.

As the Deputy knows, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is taking action as a matter of urgency.

Where?

First, 500 units of modular housing will be delivered in two tranches of 150 and 350.

How long will that take?

Where and when?

Deputies asked questions and they are getting answers.

They seem to think one can deliver these units overnight. There are processes that one must fulfil.

As the Government delivered nothing for five years, we would hardly expect it to deliver overnight.

Will Deputies, please, stay quiet and listen to the answers? They might not like them, but they should listen to them.

I never hear interviews with anybody who has been allocated a house that was a void and closed up and which has now been returned to proper condition. There were 2,333 units returned to use in 2014 and the most recent projections show that there will be 2,500 by the end of the year. Dublin City Council has reported that 633 vacant units have been returned to use to date, with a projection that the number will be 765 by the end of the year. To date Cork City Council has returned 64 units to use and is projecting that the number will be 215 by the end of the year. To date Cork County Council has delivered 30 units and will have 71 by the end of the year.

That is nothing; it is a drop in the ocean.

To date the local authority in Waterford has returned 74 units to use and is projecting a figure of 148 by the end of the year.

There are 5,000 on the housing list in Limerick alone.

These are places where people will be able to live. It takes a while to repair the destruction caused by the Deputy's party.

The Government has had five years, but it is only starting now.

Five years of doing nothing.

The Minister has met local authority chief executives-----

He starts four years and nine months down the road.

-----to discuss their targets, the money they have been given and the objective of getting on with the business to be done. Why is that when the Minister provides money and objectives and tells local authorities to get on with building social housing-----

The Taoiseach knows why - the Government did nothing for five years.

-----that we are not seeing the results? Is it that some of them do not want to build? They might prefer to have agencies to do it for them. A sum of €37.16 million has been confirmed for the Dublin region which represents more than 70% of that figure. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive has confirmed that its expenditure has been €33.4 million. That is the money being spent and action is being taken-----

But the problem is still growing.

Clearly, I admit there is a real challenge, but the challenge is not money.

It is a crisis, not a challenge. It is an emergency now, not in 2020.

It is the process by which the money can be spent and housing delivered. One will not deal with the issue until more houses are provided, that is, blocks and concrete, to provide houses for people.

The Government must increase the rent supplement to provide for this to happen.