Eoin Ó Broin
Question:93. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to set out his plans to address the worsening homelessness crisis. [69619/26]
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Housing Policy
As the Minister will know, last Friday, his Department published the August homelessness report, which saw a very significant increase in the number of adults and children in emergency accommodation funded by the Department. Some 17,885 people, including 5,830 children, are in bed and breakfast accommodation, hotels or family hubs. Will the Minister outline to the House what he is going to do differently in the weeks and months ahead to stop this relentless rise in homelessness?
I assure the Deputy that the Government is taking a comprehensive approach to tackling homelessness, focusing on increasing housing supply, strengthening protection for renters and, crucially, preventing homelessness in the first instance.
Increased supply is key to addressing homelessness, meeting need and addressing the challenges in the housing markets. We have therefore been building more than ever in recent times. A record level of investment is being provided for the delivery of housing in 2026, with €5.2 billion in Exchequer capital funding complemented by investment through the Land Development Agency and lending from the Housing Finance Agency, bringing the total capital funding for housing in 2026 to over €9 billion. Our housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, aims to deliver 300,000 new homes in the period to 2030. This includes 72,000 social homes and 90,000 starter home supports. This means an average of 12,000 new social homes will be delivered every year to the end of 2030.
Supply alone is not enough. We also need to protect people in their existing homes. The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026, which came into effect on 1 March 2026, provides the strongest tenancy protections in the history of the State. The new Act introduced a new national rent control for all tenancies. This limits rent increases to inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, up to a maximum of 2%. For new-build apartments and student-specific accommodation, rent increases are capped at the level of inflation only. These changes were introduced to promote greater investment in the rental market and to increase the supply of rental properties while strengthening the protection of tenants.
The Act also provides significant improvements in security of tenure for renters. The latest data published by the RTB in September 2026 shows that the number of registered landlords and tenancies has increased on a quarterly and yearly basis.
Alongside this, we are strengthening our focus on early intervention and prevention through the new homelessness prevention framework and forthcoming child and family homelessness action plan.
It seems to be that the Minister lives in a parallel universe. In the 22 months he has been Minister, homelessness has increased by a staggering 17%, child homelessness is up by 27% and family homelessness is up 29%. The number of people over the age of 65 in emergency accommodation is up 14%. That has not happened by accident. It has happened because of the Government's policies. The targets for social housing are too low and the Government is missing them. It has slashed funding for vital homelessness prevention schemes, such as tenant in situ. The Minister has fumbled his way through the tendering process for Housing First. He has delayed the child and homelessness strategy and has no proposals that are different from what he has been doing for the past two years to address this crisis. If the Minister keeps doing the same thing over and over again, we will get the same results; more adults, more children, more families, more single people and more pensioners trapped in unsuitable and inappropriate emergency accommodation. Will the Minister do anything different in the time ahead from the failing policies he has implemented since becoming the Minister for housing?
We are taking a number of very significant measures, including significantly increasing the number of social houses delivered. Last year, new builds were at the highest number delivered in the history of the State. I expect it will be higher again this year. They are crucial to bringing people into social housing and giving them a secure, safe home for the rest of their lives. That is reflected in the significant decrease in the number of people in HAP properties moving from rental properties into permanent State social homes that are owned by local authorities or approved housing bodies.
We also have our new plans coming out, such as the child and family homelessness action plan. There is also the homelessness prevention framework as well. One person in homelessness is one too many. Like everybody, I am deeply concerned about the increase in homelessness. We are making significant strides in providing social homes for people and providing housing solutions but we are dealing with a rapidly increasing population. It is proving challenging to be able to provide sufficient homes, even with the significant increase in housing delivery. Housing delivery will increase again this year. We will get ahead of this but we are in very challenging times. There is no question about that.
There is nothing in what the Minister has said that suggests he will get ahead of it. In fact, what he is telling us and all of those people out there at risk of homelessness is that the numbers will rise. HAP numbers have reduced but council waiting lists have increased. The Government delivered more new-build social homes last year than the 1970s but since then, the population of the country has doubled and we have far greater social housing need. The Minister talked about protection for renters but he has trashed the key protection for renters in terms of rents, which will see rents rise and the risk of homelessness rise in response. This is not a comprehensive response to a homelessness crisis that the Minister and his colleagues in Government have created. We do not have the homeless prevention protocol as yet because it has not been published. We do not have the child and family homelessness plan as it has yet to be published. The youth homelessness strategy has expired and we do not know what the future of it is. Unless the Minister is willing to bring something new to the table, we will be here in November, December, January and February with rising numbers. I again ask the Minister if he can confirm there will be no new policy initiatives from this Government to address the ever escalating level of homelessness. In the absence of any new policy initiative, when will he accept this crisis will only get worse?
I have already outlined a number of new policies. The key is to prevent people going into homelessness in the first place so we can keep them in the home they have, which is the best home they can be kept in. We are doing everything we can to prevent homelessness in the first place. The reality is we have a supply challenge in this country. The comprehensive support is driving supply and we are seeing that increase already, with a 20% increase in supply last year. We will see an increase again this year. There are record numbers of new-build social houses being delivered as well.
The Deputy mentioned tenant in situ. Buying up existing homes is not the solution to solving the housing crisis in this country. Sinn Féin's own housing plan proposed slashing tenant in situ, as the Deputy knows full well.
Absolutely not. That is just not true.
It did.
We would have funded 2,000 of those this year.
The Deputy wanted to cut it down to 800.
The Minister halved the funding to 750. The Minister is misleading the House.
It is in the Deputy's party's own plan. I know it hurts when these things are called out to Deputy Ó Broin but it is actually true.
It does not. I am correcting the record so people have factual information.
Sinn Féin's proposal is to slash tenant in situ down to 800 homes. The nature of homelessness is changing as well so we have to evolve to meet the challenge and ensure people who are becoming homeless exit it as quickly as possible, wherever that homelessness may be coming from.
Homeless Persons Supports
Rory Hearne
Question:94. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider an emergency response to the growing number of people homeless in emergency accommodation and the very high estimates of those who are living in hidden homelessness; to outline the measures his Department is already taking; if he will declare the situation a crisis requiring an emergency and coordinated response; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [69315/26]
Last week, we saw record levels of homelessness in this country with 5,830 children in emergency accommodation. What emergency action is the Minister taking to immediately stem the flow of families and children into homelessness and the length of time people are spending in homelessness? I have not seen an emergency response from the Minister to this homelessness disaster. What will he do about it?
I will be absolutely clear; I do not want find any person in homelessness and one is one too many. In particular, it is not acceptable that young children and young people are ending up in emergency accommodation. We want them to exit as quickly as possible when it does happen. We are determined that this situation is not normalised. I do not want it to be considered acceptable by any member of this State or any State agency and we do not. We are challenging this situation. We have record preventions in terms of preventing people from entering homelessness. We also have a very high record of people exiting homelessness. We can get them back out of homelessness when it does happen as quickly as possible. When people are homeless, we provide emergency accommodation. It is important to understand these people are not sleeping on the streets. We have people sleeping on the streets and there is outreach. There is no need for anybody to be on the streets. People living on the streets are in very complex situations but we provide accommodation for everybody who needs it by way of emergency accommodation.
We are working relentlessly to address this situation and to tackle homelessness through prevention but also speeding up exits as quickly as possible. Driving on with the delivery of public housing is absolutely critical. That is why last year, we provided the highest number of social houses in the history of the State so we can exit people from emergency accommodation into social housing and to remove people from HAP, where the State is paying rent to private landlords, and into State-provided housing. That is why we have seen the number of HAP properties fall very significantly because of people exiting into permanent social housing solutions. There is no doubt in my mind about this. We want people to be able to grow up and grow old in secure and safe accommodation. Supporting people while they are in homelessness is a priority so they get as many supports as possible.
The Minister knows the main cause of families and children being made homeless is eviction from the private rental sector. He says he has brought in measures that give the strongest tenancy protections we have seen but he knows also that those tenancy protections do not apply to all existing tenants. There are hundreds of thousands of tenants, including tens of thousands of families and children, who are as vulnerable to eviction as they were before the Minister brought in the new measures. We can look at the scale of evictions. There were 20,000 households evicted last year and over 11,000 evicted this year. In the past two and half years, 48,000 households have been issued with eviction notices. That is why we are seeing a massive rise in homelessness. What really frustrates me is the Minister has the power right now to implement an emergency ban on evictions that would at least stem the flow and stop the trauma of families and children being evicted. He showed what he can do when he wants to when he made the changes for vulture funds but when it comes to stopping families being made homeless, he should put in place a ban on evictions.
The Deputy knows full well he is giving people false hope. If you implement a ban on evictions, you kill supply straight away. The population is increasing. Where will you house everybody else who needs somewhere to live? We have now brought in the strongest tenancy protection measures in the history of this State. The Deputy left out that the notices to quit for people to leave their homes have fallen dramatically every month since April in the last period of time.
We want to see them fall even further. We also have to get the private investment to build those homes. Something the Deputy conveniently ignores is where that funding will come from to deliver the homes that we need.
Freezing the crisis into a permanent crisis is not the solution to solving the housing crisis. It gives some people short-term support but when you end it, you do not have any solutions. We are where we are, only even worse when a temporary eviction ban comes to an end. We have seen that. That was tried. We have seen exactly what happens in that - kill supply and the crisis is only worse when you come out the other side of it.
This week, I met three different people who are in homelessness in emergency accommodation, in particular, parents of children. Any length of time spent in emergency accommodation is deeply damaging. It is a trauma to a child. The trauma started even before they entered emergency accommodation, with the stress and trauma of being evicted from their home. It is having to take a child, having to take their teddy bears and their few little toys, put them into a bag, bring them and go into a place they do not know, a strange place with others in emergency accommodation. They hear their parents going to sleep at night crying because they are in the same room. They go to sleep at night crying. The Minister can talk about supply and the things that this will do but an eviction ban would at least stop those children in families from being made homeless in the coming months.
The Minister said it reduced, but it reduced to 4,000 households per quarter. We will see another 4,000 now. We are seeing hundreds of families and children being evicted every week. The Minister cannot turn away from that. That is a human catastrophe. Whatever about the supply, the Minister needs to put in place an emergency ban that will stop this.
I am deeply concerned about those young children who find themselves in that situation. That is why we provided record numbers of social housing last year and we will increase that delivery again this year. The State is putting in an extraordinary amount of funding directly to try to address all of the housing crisis so that we do not have that situation arising. What we are doing is making difficult decisions to ensure that we provide the supply, not only for people who are currently in accommodation but for those people who need accommodation who are living at home and need somewhere to live, and also those who are coming along in the next few years. Freezing the crisis into a permanent crisis, which is the Deputy's proposal, will not solve this.
Legislative Programme
Eoin Ó Broin
Question:95. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to state when he will publish the legislation for the Celtic tiger era building defects redress scheme. [69620/26]
It is almost three years since Cabinet, in December 2023, gave approval to the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to draft legislation to underpin a redress scheme for homeowners and tenants living in Celtic tiger era defective homes. That Minister missed the timelines for the publication and passing of the legislation. Deputy Browne indicated to us earlier this year that he hoped to have the legislation published before the summer and passed in the autumn, with applications open before the end of the year. Will the Minister provide us with an update as to where that legislation is and when that much-needed scheme will open to homeowners?
I thank Deputy Ó Broin for his question in relation to this legislation for a redress scheme. The safety of people, when it comes to both the quality and standard of the homes they are living in, whether rented or bought, has to be a top priority for all of us. I want to be crystal clear on that. As a Government, we previously approved the development of supports for the remediation of fire safety, structural safety and water ingress defects in apartment buildings, including duplexes, constructed between 1991 and 2013.
An interim remediation scheme has been in place since December 2023. This was put together as a scheme with the aim of providing an acceptable level of fire safety in buildings pending introduction of the statutory scheme and completion of the full remedial works. The interim scheme is for the funding of emergency fire safety defect works and the scheme is administered by the Housing Agency. Applications can be made via the Housing Agency's website. I urge anyone who believes they are impacted to make contact with the Housing Agency. As of the end of August 2026, 293 applications to the interim scheme have been validated, having met the required eligibility criteria. These applications represent 25,947 residential units, with circa 75% of these in the Dublin region.
In February 2026, the Government announced a number of significant amendments to the interim scheme. This was in order to simplify procurement and cut through administrative hurdles. I wanted to make sure that we were allowing works relating to fire detection and alarm systems to be completed far more quickly, while ensuring residents can remain safely in their homes until full building remediation is finished. For many residents we have engaged with, this has been a critical and timely measure.
Alongside this ongoing work, my Department has been engaged in drafting legislation to underpin a statutory scheme with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. Drafting is at an advanced stage and I expect the apartment and duplex defects remediation scheme Bill to be published in the coming months. I look forward to bringing the legislation through the Dáil and, once passed, I expect that the statutory scheme will be operational shortly thereafter. What is expected and being planned carefully for is that applicants to the current interim scheme will transfer seamlessly over to the new statutory scheme.
Tonight, tens of thousands of families will be forced to sleep in defective, and in many cases unsafe, homes. All they want to know is when the legislation will be published and when the scheme will be open for applications. On the basis of the answer the Minister provided to us, given that there are only ten sitting weeks left in this Dáil term, it is unlikely, if not nigh impossible, for the legislation to complete passage through the Oireachtas, which means at the earliest the scheme will be open next year. Can the Minister confirm that is realistically the timeline in front of us? Will he tell us if it is his hope or intention to at least have the legislation published and to commence the legislative process over the next ten weeks? Will he give any indication to those families who will be waiting for the comprehensive scheme when it will be open for applications?
It is very much my intention to have this legislation published within the next ten weeks and to move on and get it passed as quickly as possible. As the Deputy will know, we have a number of pathfinder projects that are redressing 600 residential units with the interim remediation scheme.
While I want this done as quickly as possible, what is also critical for me is that it is simple and straightforward for residents to be able to use this scheme and that we do not have an overly complex scheme. That is what I have been driving within the Department in drafting this legislation to ensure that it is not something that theoretically works well but is something that is manageable. As the Deputy knows and has highlighted previously, it is ordinary people who are managing these residential units who have to manage this scheme. I want to make sure that it is navigable by ordinary people who will have to deal with this legislation.
Given people's experience of the defective concrete blocks scheme and the interim fire safety scheme, the difficulty is there is nothing simple or straightforward about either. In fact, the Government also took the decision in December 2023 to open the interim scheme. The Minister is correct that 25,000 homes have now been approved but three years on, only 600 homes have been approved and are able to access funding. That means 24,000 homes - these are emergency fire safety works that are to be funded - are still left in limbo. The Government also approved, in 2023, a retrospective payment for homeowners who had already paid those costs. Pathfinders were meant to be funded. Not a single one has been done.
Now that the Minister has initiated the review of the defective concrete blocks scheme, people in Donegal, Mayo, Clare and elsewhere will ask whether they will now get retrospective payments, a full 100% redress and the kinds of supports we are hoping the Minister will include in the new scheme provided by the Housing Agency that were denied to homeowners on the western seaboard. We want it to be simple and straightforward, but three years of delay for these families is unacceptable, like a decade of delay for families impacted by defective concrete blocks.
I certainly hear the Deputy and I have real concern for the people in these properties. I have met their representatives on a number of occasions and we are working closely with them. As I say, I want this done as quickly as possible. I had hoped and aimed to have it more quickly than this but I do not want a scheme, as I said, that is overly complex. I want one that is workable and deliverable. We will get this right.
Homeless Persons Supports
Conor Sheehan
Question:96. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures he will take this winter to reverse rising homelessness; when the promised and delayed child and family homelessness action plan will be published; and the emergency measures he will take this winter to accelerate exits from emergency accommodation. [68816/26]
Since the Minister came to office in January 2025, we have had a 17% overall increase in homelessness, including a 26.66% increase in the number of children homeless. I will ask the Minister specifically about the measures he will take this winter to reverse rising homelessness. When will the promised and repeatedly delayed child and family homelessness action plan be published? What are the accelerated emergency measures he will take to increase and accelerate exits from emergency accommodation this winter?
I thank the Deputy for raising the very important issue of homelessness, which has to be the most important issue any of us deal with.
Addressing family homelessness is a key priority for Government. Our housing plan commits to the development of a child and family homelessness action plan. This has brought together key stakeholders to drive the continued focus on preventing children and families entering emergency accommodation and providing enhanced supports for children experiencing homelessness, as well as measures to accelerate exits and reduce the time spent by children and their families in homeless emergency accommodation. The plan will provide a strengthened focus on the particular needs of children and families and bring together actions across Government to improve outcomes for families experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. This plan is at an advanced stage of drafting and is intended to be published shortly. Following publication, a delivery steering group will be established under the auspices of the National Homeless Action Committee, NHAC, to drive progress on all actions and maintain a strong cross-Government focus on implementation.
More broadly, our focus is on ensuring homelessness is prevented where possible and, where families do enter emergency accommodation, that they are supported to move to a secure and sustainable home as quickly as possible. Local authorities will continue to work with households to identify appropriate pathways out of emergency accommodation, including through social housing, HAP and Homeless HAP. Significant resources are being provided to support this response. Budget 2026 provided a total allocation of €563.5 million to address homelessness. This included €513.5 million in current funding to ensure local authorities can provide sufficient emergency accommodation.
There is nothing in the briefing the Minister's Department gave him and which he read out - it is essentially the same as the one read out to my colleagues who asked similar questions earlier - that addresses the crux of my question because the child and family homelessness plan has been delayed repeatedly. It was supposed to come in quarter 2, then in June and then in September. The budget is next week. When exactly will the plan be published? Is there going to be ringfenced, dedicated funding in the budget specifically to reduce the duration people, and families in particular, are spending in emergency accommodation?
Threshold made a very good pre-budget submission. Some €84 million is the figure it put forward. I would like to know the Minister's thoughts on that. I want to hear from him specifically on how we are going to get more people out of emergency accommodation this winter.
It is important we not just have a plan - in this case the child and family homelessness action plan - but that it is funded and we can ensure it is delivered quickly so that we prevent as many children as possible from becoming homeless or exit them as quickly as possible. We are providing a record number of exits from homelessness but it is challenging because of the number we have coming into homelessness in the first place. All of this is driven by the lack and shortage of housing in this country. Everything I do is to prevent people from becoming homeless, to exit them as quickly as possible and ensure that while they are in homelessness, the best supports are provided to them. It is traumatic for children to be in homelessness, and we do not want a single child spending a single day in it. That is why we have a number of measures and are providing record funding to tackle the homelessness situation but, ultimately, we have to drive supply in this country otherwise we are not going to end any of the challenges we face within homelessness.
The issue I have is that we are functionally out of capacity. We are running out of emergency accommodation coming into this winter and there is a real concern that the incoming demand will exhaust all the remaining beds. There is nothing in what the Minister said, albeit his acknowledgement that the plan does need to be funded but it needs to be funded properly and it is going to need a significant envelope. Something around 20% of all section 10 funding needs to go into a homelessness prevention framework. The staggering amount of money we are spending on emergency accommodation is an indictment of how Government has failed.
Everything that has been floated in the budget has related to essentially putting up house prices for first-time buyers. When exactly will the plan be published and will the funding envelope allocated to the plan be adequate enough to stop more children and families ending up in homelessness this winter?
We will be publishing that plan very soon. We want to ensure it is funded and can be delivered, that it is not simply a plan to sit on the shelf because we are acutely aware of the increase in homelessness but, in particular, the number of children who are going into homelessness. Where this happens, we want to exit them as quickly as possible into permanent, safe and secure homes. That is why last year we delivered record numbers of social housing and I have no doubt we will deliver even more this year.
I am conscious that while people, particularly children, are in emergency accommodation, the best supports that can be provided are provided to them. As I said, it is about getting them out there as quickly as possible because it is traumatic for any child to spend even a single day in homelessness.
Defective Building Materials
Charles Ward
Question:97. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a local authority or an approved housing body's I.S. 465 building professional recommends option 1 remediation (details supplied), his power to seek documentary evidence and request review by the Housing Agency can result in the original remediation recommendation being altered or overturned; the precise statutory basis for this additional oversight; the safeguards in place to ensure that the independent engineer’s determination is not undermined by a subsequent administrative review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [69666/26]
The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022, as amended by the Act of 2025, underpins the grant scheme which provides grant funding to people whose homes have been affected by defective concrete blocks. As the Deputy is aware, the Act also provides for the making of a defective concrete blocks social homes scheme.
The draft defective concrete blocks social homes scheme 2026 is a scheme for the purpose of enabling a designated local authority or an approved housing body with dwellings located in a designated local authority area to remediate damage caused to dwellings owned by the local authority or approved housing body by the use of defective concrete blocks in their construction. Prior to the drafting of the draft scheme, my Department engaged in consultation with designated local authorities, the Irish Council for Social Housing and a small number of approved housing bodies, with feedback from this process informing the draft scheme. The final version of the scheme, as presented in the Dáil last week and the Seanad this week, does not contain such provisions as suggested by the Deputy and there is no role for the Housing Agency in the scheme.
On 22 July 2026, I received Government approval for the draft defective concrete blocks social homes scheme 2026. I subsequently arranged for the moving of a motion for a resolution in each House of the Oireachtas. On 23 September 2026, this resolution passed through Dáil Éireann, and subject to approval in Seanad Éireann, I will shortly seek a Government order to give effect to the scheme. This process is expected to conclude in October 2026. I am keen that local authorities will be enabled as soon as possible to begin remediating social homes which are affected in their local areas, thereby ensuring the appropriate management and maintenance of social housing stock is promoted and there is maximum use of social housing stock to meet local need.
It concerns me that option 1 recommendations appear to be subject to an additional layer of scrutiny that does not seem to apply where engineers' recommendations are options 2, 3, 4 or 5. Can the Minister explain the rationale and outline the safeguards in place to ensure constant evidential engineering standards across the remediation options? Furthermore, where an independent I.S. 465 chartered engineer has assessed the property, determined the damaged threshold has been met and has recommended option 1, why is a further ministerial or Housing Agency review required before the work can proceed? What powers does this review have, is it limited to varying evidence submitted or can it ultimately alter an engineer's recommendation on the option?
We are satisfied the scheme that has gone through this House and through the Seanad, which has been approved by Government, is an effective scheme that will work. The Deputy obviously has a lot of technical questions and I am very happy to get him a note on it from the Department of housing, which will hopefully address some of his concerns or at least clarify a number of his questions which he can then affirm or disagree with, if necessary.
I am aware they are technical but it is very important we get this right.
Recommendations for option 1 can be subject to additional scrutiny by the Housing Agency. Where it is not equivalent relates to engineering and safeguarding for options 2, 3, 4 or 5, where homeowners and tenants must have confidence that remediation recommendations are subject to the same evidence and engineering standards regardless of outcome. Does the Minister accept that the current approach risks creating a perception that option 1 recommendations are treated differently in the social housing scheme? Furthermore, will he commit to publishing the review protocol in full, including criteria applied, circumstances in which the Housing Agency may challenge or seek reconsideration of an engineer's recommendation, and whether such a review can ultimately influence remediation option approval?
We are satisfied that these proposals are fair and balanced. While I would like to have seen them done before now, at least now we have a proposal that can start to affect the necessary supports and remediation in social housing schemes. As I say, I will take note of the Deputy's questions and get him a response.
Housing Schemes
Gillian Toole
Question:98. Deputy Gillian Toole asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the housing assistance payment scheme will be extended to include the housing asset-owning parents of persons with additional needs and disabilities. [69734/26]
It is estimated that there are approximately 100,000 people with varying disabilities in need of planned living arrangements, yet only 2% are on social housing lists, which is a prerequisite for the provision of State-supported accommodation. There are older parents with prior Government-encouraged properties that could be shared by groups of adults with intellectual disabilities with appropriate wraparound services. Will the housing assistance payment scheme be extended to include the housing asset-owning parents of people with disabilities?
I thank Deputy Toole for her important question about housing supports for persons with additional needs and disabilities. The housing assistance payment scheme is a social housing support, so an assessment of housing needs must be completed in order to qualify for HAP. Any household with an identified housing need is eligible for HAP. For housing assistance to be provided, the housing authority must be satisfied that the tenancy is or would be a tenancy in good faith. Where there is a family relationship between the tenant and the landlord, the housing authority may seek evidence of a previous landlord and tenant relationship in respect of the property. This evidence may include proof of rent and payments, a lease or tenancy agreement for the property and RTB tenancy registration. In order for a housing authority to be satisfied that a tenancy is or would be in good faith, the onus is on the applicant and the landlord to prove what is being proposed is a bona fide tenancy. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the housing authority to make a decision in each individual case.
HAP payments cannot be made on homes acquired by family members solely to provide a housing solution to a particular HAP applicant or member of their household. Disabled people can access social housing support through all the available routes, namely, standard local authority housing rental assistance schemes, approved housing bodies and HAP. Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority and the allocation of dwellings is a matter for the local authority concerned in accordance with its allocation scheme.
The National Housing Strategy for Disabled Persons 2022-2027 implementation plan set out the vision for the co-operation and collaboration of Government Departments, State agencies and others in delivering housing and related supports for disabled people. Our work is also advancing on the mid-term review of the implementation plan for the national strategy, with the intention of publishing a revised plan later this year. I work closely with the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, on these matters.
I understand the rules of the HAP scheme and I understand the efforts that are being made and the reporting that local authorities will need to provide. The core problem here is that the majority of families are not aware that they should place their loved one on the social housing list. We have six different methods and metrics for recording, according to HSE officials speaking at a committee yesterday. It will be five years before we have one health identifier scheme. We have a massive black hole caused by an absence of data. In the interim, we have 2,000 parents over the age of 75 who are caring for a loved one with varying abilities. In the interim, an amendment to the HAP scheme would provide an interim arrangement until appropriate stock becomes available.
I met Before We Die and I met local groups and individuals in my own county, Wexford. I am very much aware of the very understandable worry and concern of older parents for their children with disabilities as those parents age and maybe get to the later end of their own lives. That is why I have had multiple meetings with the Minister, Deputy Foley, devising a proposal and a plan to be implemented in my Department on delivering housing for people with disabilities, whether they require residential support or to be able to live independently with a disability. The Department is moving to directly deliver those properties because my sense of it before now and my experience as a TD is that there can be an awful lot of back and forth between a local authority and the HSE about who is on a list, who is not on a list, and whether a property is needed or not. We know we need the properties and homes. We are determined to deliver those at a national level.
I will press the Minister on this. I appreciate the great efforts that he, the Minister, Deputy Foley, and their support teams are making in this regard but we have a serious time lag here. We are talking about probably 30 or 40 years in which there has been a complete lack of forward planning. Given the five-year lead-in time for the amalgamation of six different data sets into one health identifier, which will then link in with the local authority process, I suggest the Minister consider having a pilot of what I am suggesting for HAP during that five-year period. Stock simply is not going to come on stream. We do not have a statutory requirement or a breakdown of what percentage of the Part V requirement will go to older people and people with disabilities, or what the balance will be for those who have other medical needs. Would the Minister consider a five-year pilot? That would dovetail with the gathering of data and the necessary building of universal design plus or plus plus homes in consultation with developers.
I thank Deputy Toole again for raising this important matter. In some ways, what we are doing in the Department of housing is intending to lead with the drive to deliver the necessary homes, both for independent adapted living and also for community residential living. While it certainly will not take five years, it will take a lead-in time to start getting those homes delivered. I certainly have heard the Deputy and will take her concerns and proposal into consideration. I will come back to her on the issue.