Bríd Smith Demands Action on Mould and Damp in Local Authority Housing

I'm going to hand them to you when I'm leaving because what I'm looking at here is the age-old question of mould, and damp in local authority housing and to remind us that in 2015 a landmark collective complaint against Ireland across 20 local authority estates was taken to the European Court and in 2017 the European Court found Ireland guilty and insisted that there must be rapid and immediate changes made to local authority houses. As late as last night I visited Emmet buildings in Dublin 8 and I also recently visited Oliver Bond flats and to say that people are living in disgracefully damp and mouldy conditions is probably an understatement which is why I want to hand you these photographs they are really incredible and I happen to be with a local school teacher teachers in St Bridget's National School in the Coombe and she mentioned to me the level of absenteeism of children not being able to attend school because of the impact that mould and damp has on their health and damp has on their health. I have quotes here from the World Health Organisation from the NHS and authorities such as this are looking at the question of mould and damp in local authority accommodation, poor accommodation that is absolutely impacting on respiratory health, on the health of the skin, on the health of children in particular but also on elderly people and the loss of health of that time out of school should be enough to wake up this government to the fact that these things need to be dealt with in a timely fashion. It is five years now since the European Court ruled on this, maybe going on six years now and very little has changed for these tenants and there are immediate solutions. We need better ventilations, they need new windows, most of these flats still have single-glaze windows and they need a retrofitting programme, but at the very minimum new windows and improved ventilation should be available to all of these local authority tenants. When you ask Dublin City Council what they are going to do about, and I have a question here from the Chief Executive when I asked if there is funding available in terms of climate action targets and the need for health and safety in these flat complexes, what the Council can do about it? They say there is no specific government fund available for window replacement. If additional funding becomes available we can add more projects to the list. It is just not good enough. There needs to be funding made available, at least through the climate targets, to deal with this. There are a whole plethora of other issues to do with living in these complexes in the inner city. By the way they are beautiful buildings, they would have won prizes back in the day designed by Herbert George Sims, but there has been hints from the Council at least that these flats might go to the LDA and the LDA would love to flatten them because when you are in Emmet buildings you are surrounded by 12 and 14 storeys of high-rise vulture fund-built accommodation, either apart hotels, student accommodation or very expensive apartments and more are planned. It is not right to treat communities like this. They are the heart of the city. There are hundreds of families living in these conditions and although regeneration is promised, it takes way too long to deal with very fundamental basic health problems that these people face on a daily basis. What I want to tease out here today with you is what the Government are going to do to insist that the local authorities step up to the market and deliver people's health and safety in their dwellings. I would like to thank Deputy Smith for raising this important issue. In accordance with Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966, local authorities are legally responsible for managing and maintenance of their housing stock. Local authorities also have a legal obligation to ensure that all of their tenant's properties are compliant with the provisions of the Housing Standard for Rent Houses 2019. Minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing Standard for Rent Houses Regulation 2019 and focus on tenant safety. They specify the specific requirements in relation to a range of matters such as ventilation, structural repair and fire safety, which you have already made reference to in terms of ventilation, sanitary facilities, heating and safety of gas, oil and electrical installations. These regulations apply to all parties that are available for less, including social housing. All landlords, including local authorities, have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with the standards set down in the regulations. Local authorities take case of mould very seriously. 81 per cent of Dublin's City Council social housing units were built before the introduction of the building regulations in 1991. Dwellings constructed prior to 1960 tend to have solid walls, which are not very good at retaining heat. Dublin's City Council are very keen to work closely with their tenants in helping to combat mould issues. In recent years, the Council has carried out various works to help eliminate condensation. Phase 1 of the energy efficiency programme, with funding from my department, my department saw 8,057 units upgraded with cavity walls and attics insulated. In Phase 2, a further 1,110 units had their façades wrapped and windows upgraded. 80 per cent of the council stock has been upgraded by the end of 2022. The Council's Vides programme, also with the department funding, saw 772 vides upgraded in 2022 to the housing standards for rented house regulations in 2019. A housing condensation group was created by the Council in 2017, which carried out over 20,000 conditional surveys and damp reports in 2,500 units. Of these 2,500 units, mechanical inventionation has been installed in 1,300, which is just over 50 per cent of them. The responsibility for enforcement of the regulations of the private rental sector, including improved housing bodies, properties and rest of the government authorities. You made reference to Emmet Billings and Oliver Bond Flats. It is a matter we can take up with Dublin City Council as well and maybe ensure that they go out and visit those particular places and the residents you speak about. We cannot have children absent from school, as you made reference to. The Government is committed to ensuring that the high-quality stock of rental accommodation is available for households who rent, be it in the private market or in accommodation provided directly by local authorities. Notwithstanding the legal obligation, on local authorities to manage and maintain their housing stock, my Department does in a focused way provide annual funding to local authorities to support their work in this area, mainly via the Zeroed Persons Grant Scheme and the aforementioned Energy Efficiency Retrofit and Voids Programme. My Department continues to support local authorities in these focused stock improving works and to work is also ongoing with the local authority sector through the CCMA, the City and County Managers Association, to drive a planned maintenance approach to the management of all local authority housing stock. I am trusted with providing high-quality housing stock to the Social Housing Tenants Department. It is funding the development of a national asset management system for the sector that should greatly assist the sector in this task. There is a Rental Standing Committee up and running with my Department and a number of local authorities where they look at rental properties and obviously that goes into dealing with properties that the Council sells and owns. Durban City Council are a member of that Standing Committee. They met in January and they will be due again to meet in early March and really the matters you have written specifically in respect of the tenants in Emmet Buildings and Oliver Bond Flats, I will take that up to my Department and make direct contact with Durban City Council. I am very encouraged by that answer, but I am not. It is six years ago, and I repeat, since the European Court ruled against this estate for the way local authority tenants are treated and the conditions they have to live in, specifically around dampened mould, sewage problems and others. When you go into one of these estates, the problems run greater. You have rat infestation, playgrounds are not updated, they are working on soft playground stuff that is slippy and dangerous for the children. In the case of Emmet Buildings, there is no proper emergency access for ambulance or fire brigades. There is a huge amount of negligence, absolute negligence. The fact that Ireland was found to be guilty on the damp and mould issue is the one I want to get at here. I have asked you a question and you have not addressed it. Can we ensure that, at least under climate action, funding is made available to upgrade all of the windows in these houses? For that, you do not have to de-tenant the place. You do not have to go into a big urban regeneration project that lasts for a decade. You just get the stock to put in triple glazed, double glazed, triple glazed windows in every single flat and it would make an absolutely huge difference to the quality of life and the level of mould and damp and, to state the obvious, it would help to improve people's income in a cost of living crisis where they are paying a fortune to keep their flats warm. That is one specific question I would like you to address to try and get climate funding to deal with this issue of the windows and to ensure that proper ventilation is installed in every apartment. Beyond that, if you are meeting Dublin City Council, they do have to deal with rat infestation in many of these blocks and some of it happens because there are buildings being erected all around them, but it is not being dealt with. There are no responses that are worth a damn. People, as I say, very decent families, very decent communities are living with this day in, day out. Children are missing school. The health levels are very, very low. On your specific issue, Dublin City Council has received funding, state funding, in phase two, they did, in terms of January efficiency exams in phase one, with funding from my department, saw 8,057 upgraded with cavity walls and attic installations. In phase two, a further 1,110 units had their façades wrapped and windows upgraded. 80 per cent of the housing has been upgraded by the end of 2022. It is a matter we will take up with Dublin City Council, but they are the facts. Now, if there are particular instances of particular buildings where to date that has not happened, obviously that is a matter for Dublin City Council. It is a matter we will take up with them and we look at what funding is required, but they are the facts as presented from Dublin City Council. So, state funding is being provided under the areas you speak about. It is a question of, are there buildings still to be dealt with in that regard? You have mentioned two buildings, and there are Emmet buildings and Oliver Barn flats, which is a matter we will take up with Dublin City Council. But to say that there is not state funding being provided for this area, there is.