Yesterday Simon Communities Ireland published a report showing that only 20% of the very limited supply of houses available in the rental market could be afforded by those on rent supplement. This cohort of people has absolutely no other way of securing a home given the huge housing waiting list. Therefore, the reality is that the housing and homelessness crisis is worsening. These families find themselves completely priced out of the market. So many families on low, middle and even good incomes are increasingly finding themselves priced out of the housing market. Based on what I am currently seeing, this is primarily in the rental sector.

According to the Locked Out of the Market survey conducted by Simon Communities Ireland, there were 518 houses available to rent across ten locations around Ireland, including Dublin, Cork and Limerick cities and commuter towns in their hinterlands. My area, in north Kildare, was one of the areas included. Of the 518 houses, only eight were within the rent supplement scheme or housing assistance payment scheme limits. Many others were unsuitable for family accommodation. In essence, there are virtually no affordable properties available.

I am seeing heightened panic among those who are contacting my constituency office. In the past couple of weeks, I talked to a couple who are due a baby within weeks and learned they are frantic to get somewhere to live. They are living separately at present. Both are working and their joint income is reasonable. They and others are telling me that when they go to a viewing, they find themselves in a bidding war. One couple told me in recent weeks that when they left a property that was advertised for €1,300 per month, the bidding war brought the value up to €1,800 per month. That is the cause of the desperation. In another case, the landlord told a couple with one child, both working, that the rent was to be put up by €300 per month to €1,500 per month. They cannot afford it. It is not sustainable but they cannot do anything and cannot rock the boat.

This is the kind of profile we are seeing.

We in the Social Democrats launched our alternative budget today and we focused heavily on initiatives designed to bring significant numbers of units back into use. There are 200,000 vacant properties in the country. Initiatives such as the vacant housing initiative that was announced need to be accelerated, and this is one of the proposals in our document. Will the Tánaiste examine it? The problem is accelerating. We need to examine where houses are available that can be brought into use, for example, by way of the fair deal scheme. Will the Tánaiste ensure a fresh look is taken at the short-term aspect of the problem, given that it is out of control?

I recognise, as does the Government, the seriousness of the housing situation, and that is why it is a priority and will be over the coming years. I recognise what the Deputy said about there being short-term and long-term issues, and that the short-term situation, particularly regarding renting in our urban centres, is at crisis point. This is why the programme the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, announced has short-term and long-term initiatives. The Deputy is familiar with the issues. The Minister has set a target of delivering 40,000 social housing units supported by an investment of €5.35 billion. There is an accelerated housing assistance payment, HAP, of €12,000 in 2016 and €15,000 in 2017 and various other developments such as the dedicated housing delivery office and housing procurement unit.

All these are intended to ensure the housing supply comes on stream as quickly as possible. We do not want people to continue to have to move into hotels. There is a very clear target that by mid-2017 people will not be in that circumstance and that hotels will be used as emergency accommodation only in the most limited circumstances. One of the keys to the Deputy's point is that rapid-build housing is essential and it needs to be delivered very quickly. The Deputy knows the targets that have been set for it. Everybody in the House recognises that it must be a priority area and funding must be, and is being, made available.

The Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, is very clear on the short-term as well as the long-term needs and that every help must be given to the families the Deputy described who find themselves in this situation. There is a strong programme and I have been at meetings where leaders from local authorities are doing everything possible to ensure there is a fast-track approach to refurbishing any housing stock in their areas that is suitable for allocation and ensuring the turnaround is quicker than it has been. Everybody recognises that we cannot have properties boarded up that could provide homes for families. It is a priority for local authorities.

There are points at which one can see something is coming to a crux. We are at such a point. While all the initiatives in the programme are welcome, many of them are medium term. The Tánaiste's constituency is next door to mine and they have the same profiles. She sees the same problems as I do. It has reached a new level. The Simon Communities survey demonstrated it in hard facts. There must be solutions that are accelerated now that can be delivered in months. There are houses available that people cannot use given that there is an impediment to using them if they might not qualify for the fair deal scheme.

The Housing Agency is driving an initiative to bring vacant houses back into use. We are reaching the point at which we will not even be able to accommodate people in hotels. Will the Government consider pursuing short-term initiatives that can be realised within months?

Certainly, I agree with the Deputy. For example, she mentioned housing becoming available in respect of the fair deal scheme. That is certainly an initiative that can be looked at by the Departments of Health and Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. I take the Deputy's point that if there are other short-term measures which can be identified and which would make a difference to the current and emerging crisis, then as many actions as possible should be taken in the short term to deal with the rental crisis we are experiencing.

I must tell the Deputy, however, that I see people moving out of hotels, as I am sure she does. I have certainly seen people moving into housing and that is to be welcomed. There is a very clear target that, by the middle of next year, families will not be in that situation. The urgency is understood by the Government. It is understood by the Minister Deputy Coveney. As I said, the initiative he is taking is for the short as well as the medium and longer terms.

The Deputy may have other suggestions. She spoke about a particular one, and people are moving more quickly into nursing homes now. If that means there is a housing supply available or that those houses will be available to rent - obviously there will be many complex issues in terms of ownership, families and so on - the matter will be pursued by the Ministers for Health and Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government.