We all accept and know there is a housing crisis. Despite the Government's best efforts, announcements and plans this crisis is, unfortunately, getting worse rather than better. Research from agencies such as Focus Ireland has confirmed that an overwhelming number of homeless families had their last stable home in the private rental sector. They had to leave those homes as landlords were selling up and an increasing number of property owners do not accept rent supplement. The Government has promised that by July families would no longer be accommodated in hotels. Instead, families are being told that emergency accommodation is not available.

Today we learn that 12 families, with 30 children, were told to go to Garda stations on Tuesday night. Three of these families had been evicted recently and they presented to Store Street Garda station, while other families and their children presented to Pearse Street and Clondalkin Garda stations. These families were homeless and evicted when they presented to the Garda stations. The families depend on bed and breakfast accommodation and emergency accommodation on a day-to-day basis. The situation is bad enough but, unfortunately, the events on Tuesday have brought a very negative and extremely worrying turning point. Hundreds of phone calls were made by Focus Ireland to bed and breakfast accommodations and to hotels for the families on Tuesday night. For them, however, there was no room at the inn. Some of the families ended up sleeping rough that night. Mike Allen of Focus Ireland has said that what happened on Tuesday is unprecedented and shocking.

It is more than three years since Fr. Peter McVerry described the housing crisis as a humanitarian one. There are 61,600 households that qualify for social housing and one in five of those have been on the list for five years. There are more than 60,000 people in severe mortgage distress. Nationwide, there are 7,472 homeless people and this number has now increased by 32% since March 2016. One in three of those who are homeless are children. There are 12,056 families, including 2,563 children, in emergency hotel and bed and breakfast accommodation. In Dublin alone there are 138 rough sleepers. Hotels are now getting busy as the tourism season moves along.

This has very negative consequences for short-term emergency accommodation provision. Nobody accepts that this is normal, but what is the Government doing to prevent this becoming the norm, as appears to be the case, in how homeless families are dealt with? If hotels are booked out, what plans have been put in place to arrange emergency accommodation? Has more emergency accommodation than is currently available - as we witnessed as recently as last night and Tuesday night - been sought by Dublin City Council on a short-term basis?

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive has overall responsibility for co-ordinating the response to homelessness on behalf of the four Dublin local authorities, as the Deputy is aware. What happened on Tuesday night is unacceptable. The demand for accommodation experienced on Tuesday night was exceptional. It was out of the ordinary in comparison with the situation in 2017 to date. In regard to what has happened since then, from last night, 24 May, Dublin City Council has more than doubled the volume of emergency contingency capacity that is available to any family that may present in an emergency situation. Clearly, Garda stations are not suitable places for families to be directed to in any circumstances. There is now additional emergency contingency accommodation for families, which includes large units that can accommodate families of up to six persons. Last night, only one of these new additional contingency units was needed to accommodate a family.

At the end of March, 870 homeless families were housed in commercial hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation in the Dublin region. Statistics to be published later today show a reduction in the number of families in hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation. I spoke to the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government this morning and he made clear that he wants to ensure that we will have supported and appropriate facilities in order that families will be in more suitable accommodation. The Minister wants these facilities to be in place by mid-year. Over €15 million is being invested in eight new facilities that will offer appropriate services for up to 240 families. Available at these places will be facilities for children, homework clubs and key workers and housing assistance payment, HAP, place finders will be on site. Families will be able to look after themselves in these places. Work on the facilities at Mater Dei on Clonliffe Road, Lynam's Hotel, High Park in Drumcondra, for which Respond! is responsible, Clontarf, Clonard Road in Crumlin, Ballyfermot, Dundrum and Coolock is well advanced. The State is spending €4.5 million on the Mater Dei development alone.

Outside Dublin there will be facilities to accommodate 21 families in Cork and 18 in Limerick. These developments are also being advanced. In Kildare, a facility for eight families operated by the Peter McVerry Trust will open in the coming week .

I acknowledge the provision of family hubs across our cities. They are a welcome development in recent months, although they have come very late in the day. I hope the pace of provision will be quickened such that there will not be a repeat of what occurred on Tuesday night. When a similar situation arose two years ago, in response to being told that the law was not strong enough in respect of the obligation on Government regarding the provision of housing for homeless families - it is very clear in the context of provision for children - the Taoiseach said that the situation would not arise again and that there was no need to strengthen any legislation. It is a damning indictment of him and his Government that, two years later, the situation has arisen again and the crisis has worsened. Despite all the best laid plans and announcements the delivery of housing has not been what it should be. Despite the introduction of rent pressure zones, rent costs are higher. The home-to-buy scheme has done nothing but give rise to higher house prices, particularly in Dublin. Regulation on costs to builders is exceptionally slow and social housing provision is wholly inadequate. In addition, the provision of rapid-build accommodation has been woefully slow.

After a year in office and with the Government on the cusp of having a new leader, it is time to concentrate on the job at hand and provide the services, facilities and housing units people crave. We have heard a lot of sentiment on the subject in recent weeks but we need to deal with reality and the Government has failed to do that up to now.

The Deputy knows, more than most, the intense focus there has been on ensuring supply is developed following the disastrous lack of supply of recent years, the reasons for which I do not need to articulate. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has indicated that the current legislation that defines legal responsibility for the provision of homeless services, including the provision of accommodation to a housing authority, does not require change. I accept there is an extraordinarily big challenge in accelerating housing supply but Rebuilding Ireland has ensured that very many actions are under way, so that we can begin to see the supply that is needed and to provide the necessary accommodation. Nine months into the implementation of Rebuilding Ireland, there is strong evidence that the focus on increasing and accelerating supply is starting to work. Planning permissions for 16,375 new homes were granted in the 12 months up to the end of December, an increase of 26% year on year, and commencement notices for over 13,000 new homes nationwide were submitted in the 12-month period to the end of February 2017. There were 3,000 sustainable exits from homelessness during 2016.

The Government promised 15,000. That is the problem.