Tá oibrithe agus teaghlaigh ar fud an Stáit seo ag streachailt leis an ngéarchéim tithíochta. Tá géarchéim na ndaoine gan dídean ag dul in olcas. Tá an ghéarchéim chomh scaipthe anois go bhfuil sí ag cur isteach ar chúram sláinte, ar oideachas agus ar an ngeilleagar. There is not a single community, nor a single sphere of our society, which is untouched by the housing crisis. This housing and homelessness crisis is getting worse. It is hampering our health system, our education system and our entire economy.

Yet, the quality of debate surrounding the lifting of the temporary, no-fault eviction ban was deeply frustrating. For months prior to its lifting, we in the Opposition asked what the Government would do to introduce emergency measures to protect renters from homelessness once the ban was lifted and, for months, it insisted a plan was in train. The week the ban was lifted, we saw a series of half-baked, hastily launched plans. For some of them, including the first-refusal scheme, we are still in the dark about how they will work or when they will come into effect. All the while, the housing crisis was getting worse.

This is the second-last week before the Houses will rise for the summer. It is as good a time as any, in fact it is a vital time, for the Government to show a little humility and to change tack on housing policy. News broke on Friday last that 12,441 people are now recorded as homeless, which is an increase of 182 people in one month alone. We know that these numbers understate the true scale of the problem as they only record those in State-resourced emergency accommodation. Having one person in homelessness is clearly one too many, but to see the numbers of homeless people rising every month under this Administration in 2023, when the Government is running budget surpluses, is appalling.

The effects of insecure housing on families, in particular, are severe and long lasting. We know from these figures there are 3,699 children in homelessness. They are being deprived of the safety and security which they and their parents should be able to take for granted in Ireland in 2023. That is why it is so frustrating to hear so little support from the Government benches for constructive proposals from the Opposition, such as the Labour Party’s homeless families Bill, supported by Focus Ireland, which would ensure the rights of children are prioritised when a family is facing the prospect of losing their home. There has been a similar lack of support from the Government for measures we also proposed, such as our evidence basis for lifting the eviction ban.

In October 2022, the Minister of State said the ban would provide a respite to the Government to address core issues and take up measures, such as emergency beds and tackling vacancy. The Taoiseach took office in December promising to prioritise homelessness, yet the Government is failing the nearly 12,500 people now in homelessness. Does the Taoiseach accept that in the summer economic statement to be published this afternoon, the Government will have to do more for those currently in homelessness and those families facing that awful precipice of losing their home?

Of course we need to do more for people facing homelessness. It is important to bear in mind that while 12,000 people in emergency accommodation provided by the State are homeless, they are not the same people.

We are lifting people out of homelessness all the time. It is important to bear that in mind, too. Of course, there is more we need to do, but the summer economic statement is essentially a document that deals with fiscal policy. It has a macroeconomic framework; it is not going to get into the details of housing, education, the tax package or the welfare package. That is not what it is about. It is about the headline figures.

The Deputy is right to say that we are experiencing a housing crisis. I have always acknowledged that. That affects people in lots of different ways, whether this is through high rents, rising homelessness or people struggling to buy their first home. However, I do not think it is fair not to acknowledge any of the progress that has been made in recent years, which has been considerable. The Deputy mentioned 12 years ago when her party and my party entered office together. We were only building 7,000 homes per year at that point. It is now more than 30,000. The number of homes being built has quadrupled in 12 years and we aim to go much higher than the 30,000 we achieved last year. House prices are now levelling off. They have been falling in Dublin for the past couple of months. We are seeing some really encouraging signs around home ownership in particular. In the month of May, record numbers of people secured a mortgage for the first time. Some 5,000 new mortgage applications were approved and 3,000 of those were for first-time buyers. Each week we are now seeing 400 or 500 young people, both individuals and couples, buying their first homes. We have not seen anything like that in even 15 or 20 years. That gives me a lot of confidence that we can make homeownership a reality for more people.

That did not happen by accident. It is because of Government policies that increase supply like, for example, planning law reforms and waiving the development levies, as well as schemes, such as the help-to-buy scheme, which help people to get their deposit and the first home scheme, which bridges the gap between the mortgage you get and the property you want to buy. There is huge interest in the grants to do up derelict homes and vacant properties in order to bring them back to use. I think there have been 500 applications alone in County Cork, which is extraordinarily encouraging. There are also, of course, local authority home loans, which people can use to get a mortgage when the banks cannot give them a mortgage. That is all significant progress and none of it happened by accident. It happened because of Government policies, many of which were opposed by Opposition parties. Yes, we accept that we need to do more; more on home ownership, more to bring rents down and to help renters and, of course, more to reduce homelessness.

The Taoiseach has given me indicators of progress, but that is no answer to the 182 additional people in homelessness in the last month alone. This has a real-life effect on people. My office is in touch with a mother of three who has a newborn baby. She is a housing assistance payment, HAP, tenant who is in fear of eviction. She is sleeping on the couch in her rented apartment while her baby sleeps in his pram because they have no space. They are in fear of losing even the limited space they have. Therefore, the Government’s policies are not helping her and they are not helping renters.

We have welcomed proposals from the Government that would genuinely increase supply. We supported the Land Development Agency, LDA. However, we are asking those in government to take on board the constructive measures we proposed, such as our renters’ rights Bill, that would provide better security to renters, like that mother of three and the thousands of people who are increasing in number every month, despite the Government’s policies and, in some cases, because of them. Let me remind the Taoiseach that in October 2022, the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, said that the temporary ban would allow the Government the respite space to: "address core underlying issues driving our homelessness levels [by providing] more emergency beds, tackling vacancy, using modular homes and improving allocations and relettings to make the most of existing stock". Where are those measures now? Can the Taoiseach say that we will not see a further increase in next month’s homelessness figures?

We always consider the proposals that are put to us by Opposition parties, NGOs and others working in the area of homelessness, as well as, of course, those who build homes – the home builders. For example, we accepted the proposal to introduce a rent credit and that has helped many people with their rent. It is €1,000 for a couple and it is €1,500 for three people renting. We have also accepted other proposals for example in relation to derelict buildings and other proposals in relation to the tenant in situ scheme. Therefore, we do listen to suggestions that people put forward. One thing I can say about the eviction ban is that it appears to me to be increasingly clear that it was not a successful policy. For nearly every month that the eviction ban was in place, we saw an increase in homelessness. Last month, unfortunately, we saw a further increase in homelessness but, even with the eviction ban gone, that increase was 1.5%. Those are real people and that is 1.5% too many. The prediction by those who advocated for an eviction ban was that it would bring homelessness down. It did not. They predicted that once the eviction ban was lifted that there would be, to use the quote, “an explosion” in the number of people using emergency accommodation.

We have seen a further increase, which is disappointing, but the rates are not far off what we saw when the eviction ban was in place.