I have lost count of how many times I have raised the issue of reviewing the income thresholds for eligibility for social housing over the last four or five years. Whether it is the last Government or this Government, the stock response is that “it is under review” or “the review will be completed shortly”, and we have been told that for four or five years now. Of course, the result, let us be clear, is that thousands of people every year who go over the income threshold, who do not have the income to pay for the massively inflated rents and house prices, are thrown off the list and cannot afford to get anything through their own resources. The failure of successive Governments, including the Taoiseach's, to address this has reached absolutely unbelievable, incredible proportions.

This is an email I got this Monday:

Hi Richard,

I just received this email from [a local authority - we can guess which one] requesting that I move out of homeless accommodation that I am in. There is weeks to Christmas and that is what I have just received. I'm so upset and stressed by this now. How can they make me homeless from homeless accommodation?

That is the second case I have been dealing with. I brought one other to the attention of the Minister and he is looking into it, in fairness, but this is an unbelievable situation. The woman in question is the mother of a young child. She is a care worker, working, actually, in a State agency where they desperately need people to work because they are chronically understaffed but, because she did additional work for this chronically understaffed State agency working with vulnerable children, she is now off the housing list.

The letter from the local authority is brilliant:

Dear [I will not mention her name]

I am contacting you in relation to your temporary agency homeless placement at [I will delete the reference]. Homeless services have been made aware by housing allocations that you do not qualify for social housing support as your application has been deemed over the income limit. You must make arrangements to move on from emergency accommodation with your own resources.

This is just beyond belief. People are now not just homeless; they are punished for working and trying to improve their situation and get themselves out of that situation, but where they still clearly do not have their own resources to pay the rents - which in my area are an average of €24,000 to €26,000 a year of after-tax income - they are out of homeless accommodation in the teeth of Christmas. This is happening around the country. It is partially worsened by a change in the calculation method by the statutory instrument in March of this year, which based it on average income of the previous year, but also because of the failure to lift the income threshold. What is the Taoiseach going to do about this?

I believe the income thresholds in terms of eligibility for social housing should be increased. As part of Housing for All, that is being examined, along with other issues pertaining to social housing as well, because the Government has a very large social housing programme under its remit. We want to build record numbers of social houses through the approved housing bodies and direct builds from local authorities every year for the next ten years, particularly in the first five years, from this year onwards.

We have provided significant resources to deal with homelessness. I would say to the authorities and those involved on the ground to use common sense and practicality. If somebody is homeless, we do not say they are no longer available for our services. That is the first point I would make. I know the Deputy raised a case yesterday and I asked that he might give that to the Minister. I will engage with the Minister on this. Practice should be informed by the spirit with which we approach homelessness overall, which is to ensure that families in particular and people generally are not without a roof, particularly in winter time.

The Housing First strategy, for example, has proved to be an enormous success. To be fair to the NGOs - the Simon Communities, Focus Ireland and others - which came forward with that idea, learning from what was going on across Europe and globally, it has been a spectacular success in terms of the number of homeless who avail of the Housing First programme and who are still in housing. It is working, so we want to roll that out.

If someone who is homeless gets a job, for example, there has to be an interregnum or a period there. We should facilitate the person coming out of homelessness basically, and that would be my approach.

Across the board, the Minister has taken measures this winter in terms of homelessness. In the winter 2021 Dublin rough sleeper count, for example, there has been a fall in numbers this year so far of about 25% from the spring 2021 count, and a reduction of 45 individuals when compared with last winter.

The Deputy’s fundamental point is around the income thresholds. I think they should be increased but there is a review going on, not just of the income thresholds, to be fair, because we have to have a sustainable social housing programme right through the next decade. One thing we want to do in this Government, something I was committed to before I come into government, is directly build far more social houses than we have done in the past, and affordable houses as well. I am glad Dublin City Council has agreed a plan for Oscar Traynor Road, for example, and the 853 houses will make a big difference to the issues we are talking about.

First, will the Taoiseach give me a commitment that homeless families will not be evicted from homeless accommodation because they get a job and try to earn a bit of extra income? Will he give me that commitment now and issue that instruction to local authorities?

Second, can I just point out that if they had been housed as they should be, or even got a HAP tenancy, they would not be evicted and their rent would rise with their income. People do not get evicted from a council house because of their income, but if they are homeless, they get removed from the list and evicted from the homeless accommodation because they have increased their income. It is beyond belief. Urgent action needs to be taken.

Why has the review not been completed? The Taoiseach knows and I know, and it is hidden in what he said. The Department is terrified that if it raises the thresholds, more people will be eligible for social housing and then the numbers on the list will rise, which will not look terribly good for the Department. That is not acceptable. Once upon a time, ordinary working people of moderate and medium incomes, or even slightly higher incomes, were able to go into social housing, and there was nothing wrong with it. This will end up with social housing apartheid because the Department does not want to let people on the list in order to massage the figures.

I have no interest in that kind of carry-on - none - because this gets produced or this gets produced. The bottom line is that I want to get people housed. That is all I am interested in. I have said to the Deputy that I believe it should be increased. I do not think the Department is either, to be honest with the Deputy.

Why is there not a-----

What we are interested in is getting houses built. Some 1,200 new tenancies for homeless people have happened already in terms of the Housing First strategy. These are people who had a history of rough sleeping and who needed additional supports. The Minister, to be fair to him, has kept a weekly oversight of the homeless strategy. Real progress is being made in regard to it and we will continue to keep that focus.

Also, in terms of making sure that where people who are genuinely homeless right now and their circumstances-----

They will not be evicted from homeless accommodation.

They should not be evicted from homeless accommodation.

The Taoiseach should make a commitment on that.

I have made that statement and that is my strong view. We have a lot more to do but if we want to get rid of the scourge of homelessness, all of us in this House need to give up opposing schemes left, right and centre for the sake of it.

It is déjà vu.

Parties in this House have been opposing a project where 850 houses could be provided.

The Taoiseach's party included.

Opposition parties opposed 850 houses being built.

These people would not be able to afford those houses.

That is wrong. That project should not be opposed.

It is not wrong if it is not appropriate housing.

For how much longer will we stop houses being built in the country?

There is enough land zoned for housing in this country, and appropriate housing at that.

Some 850 houses would be built there.

The Opposition does not want them to be built. The Opposition does not want the problem to be solved.

I ask Deputies to show a little respect for Leaders' Questions. If they like, I will leave the seat vacant, or we could proceed with a little respect.