KENNY CALLS ON BANKS REPOSSESSING "BUY TO LET" PROPERTIES TO ALLOW TENANTS TO REMAIN IN SITU

Posted on September 25, 2014 10:01 AM   |   Permanent Link   

Speaking on Private Members Business

I believe that the Government does understand the problems that people are facing in terms of housing - from people living with the threat and the reality of homelessness to young families who cannot find affordable properties.
The Housing challenge is significant, the Construction 2020 target of tripling annual housing output over the next 6 years and the Housing Agency estimates of some 35,000 additional residential properties being required over the next 5 years to meet social housing need, show the scale of the challenge before us.

While it's important to recognise the issues, I believe that it is just as important not to panic people in terms of the housing market. Property in Dublin fell by over 50% since the peak and is still significantly below those peak prices. In terms of immediate action, 6,000 households will have their social housing needs met this year.

The claims of another property boom are, I believe, exaggerated. The recent story in Swords of people camping out overnight in order to put a deposit down appears to be a once off event, and I understand that on the day the sales of that development opened, the houses had not sold out on the first day.

The Social Housing Strategy, under the stewardship of the Minister for Environment, Alan Kelly, is in preparation and will be finalised and published with Budget 2015. I am not going to start pre-empting the final strategy, but clearly it will need to address supply by coming up with solutions that must include a more ambitious build programme and the facilitation of increased private sector construction and it will need to examine funding solutions including the best mix of State funding, private finance and EU sources of funding.

New social housing stock is being added, we are reactivating old stock that needed refurbishment and we will continue to add stock. Through a considerable refurbishment programme, almost 2000 Social Housing units are back in use in 2014 and another 1200 social units will go back into use in 2015 and more units will follow. The Social Housing Strategy will provide us with a programme to continue this work.

Significant development on new builds has started already. New social housing developments are starting all round the country. In Dublin for example there are 38 new units being built in Glasnevin and new public housing initiatives being progressed by Dublin City with the voluntary sector and with assistance form Minister Kelly's Department. For example two large schemes of 50 units and 130 units, where a mix of private rented and socially rented units are being provided side by side in my own constituency in Dublin 13. This is the kind of innovation we need.
The Government's commitment to tackling homelessness is laid out in the Homelessness Policy Statement published last year, which outlines our aim to end long-term homelessness by the end of 2016. This means transitioning from a shelter-led to a sustainable housing-led approach, which is about accessing permanent housing as the primary response to all forms of homelessness.

In the past two years in Dublin, some 1,500 people have moved from homeless services to independent living, with necessary supports. This shows what can be done. But there is much more to do - and I fully recognise that.
This is why an oversight group was established to review the approach advocated in the Homelessness Policy Statement, identify obstacles and propose solutions. This led in turn to the approval by Government in May of this year of a major Implementation Plan, containing 80 actions, which will contribute to the delivery of 2,700 units of accommodation by the end of 2016.

These actions include ensuring that vacant properties are brought into productive use as quickly as possible and prioritising vulnerable groups including homeless households for housing, as well as bringing other suitable vacant residential properties in State ownership into use as quickly as possible.

In conclusion I wish to raise the question of repossession of of Buy to Let Properties by Banks

People renting being made homeless as a result of repossession of of Buy to Let Properties by Banks
should be allowed to remain "in situ" where the property is being purchased by another investor and legislation to protect tenants in this situation should be considered.

I support the work of the Government and I will be playing my part in ensuring the housing crisis gets tackled and resolved.