Gino Kenny: Condemns HAP Payments and Housing Policy Failures
Gino Kenny spoke in a speech on 12 July 2022 about the housing crisis, arguing that decades of marketisation and commodification of homes have produced rising homelessness and emergency accommodation. He criticised current housing policy, condemned high HAP payments to private landlords and warned of electoral consequences if the government does not act.
Scale of the crisis
He warned that the situation has reached crisis point with 10,000 people plus in emergency accommodation and a looming "tsunami of notice of quits" that could leave many more homeless by autumn. He said homelessness is widening beyond classical street homelessness and predicted official figures will rise.
HAP and the rental market
He attacked HAP rates as being far below market rents while also saying the state is paying obscene sums to private landlords. He singled out examples of landlords receiving around €2,400 per month and accused some private landlords of "robbing the state".
Policy roots and historical legacy
He traced the crisis to a 20-year historical legacy of treating shelter as a commodity, blaming the marketisation of homes and speculative investment. He invoked comparisons with Britain and international trends to argue the problem is the result of policy choices, not inevitability.
Political warning and election stakes
He said the last general election sent a message to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil over public services and housing, and warned the government will pay a "heavy, heavy price" at the ballot box if it does not address the failures. He highlighted human consequences such as emigration and children in emergency accommodation as reasons the public will not forget.
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Minister, I know, look I was about to let loose, but Minister have you ever thought that for one minute that the cordoned housing policy and other housing policies have been wrong? Because I'd like somebody from that side of the house to say, look, you know what, I think we've got it wrong. But there's not that kind of, I don't get that sense, not now or not never. And we have to look, to look at the housing crisis, we've got to look at what happened 20 years ago. Because there's a historical legacy in relation to the commodification and the kind of marketisation of homes. Because that's what it is, it's shelter. It's the basic needs of human beings to have a shelter. Now, it's like Groundhog Day here, because now we're in the situation where there's 10,000 people plus in emergency accommodation. And then it gets worse, you've seen the situation with rental, the situation where affordable, and it's only going to get worse. And people have alluded to the kind of tsunami of notice of quits. I mean, there's a huge amount of people that are going to be homeless come the autumn. And then figures are not going to go south, they're going to go north. And this situation is completely unattainable and unacceptable. And we have to look at what's happening in the rental market in relation to HAP. I mean, HAP rates are nowhere near the kind of market rates for renting. Even homeless HAP. I mean, it's obscene the amount of money that actually has been given to private landlords. Like 2,400 euros for a home per month. I mean, these people should be wearing balaclavas. They're robbing the state. That's what they're doing. Some of the homes are not worth 2,400 by any means. So this is all a historical legacy minister and a contemporary. Because it comes down to policy. And that's what it comes down to. It comes down to choice. And it comes down to looking at shelter as a monetary value. And this is not new. This has happened in Britain. This has happened around the world. Where speculators, you know, robbers, speculate in relation to property. And that's the situation that a lot of people find themselves. And homelessness and the housing crisis doesn't affect everybody at this stage. It's not the kind of classical, you know, somebody that's homeless on the street. That's not the kind of situation at the moment. And I never was. And just the final thing, Minister, is in relation to the last general election. The last general election was probably the most important general election for a generation. It sent a message to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, that have been ruling the country for the last 100 years, that public services, particularly housing, they weren't going to take any more. And they've had enough. And that's the reason why a lot of people that probably have voted for your party are turned away from your party in relation to the housing crisis. And that will be the key factor in the next general election, wherever that happens. That will be the key factor. Minister, if your government does not address the issues that we're talking about today, there will be a heavy, heavy price that you will pay. Heavy, heavy price. Because people don't forget. And they don't forget the misery that they have. Some people have to emigrate. Some people are going to emergency accommodation. Because that stays etched in your mind that you have to see your children through emergency accommodation. It's just unacceptable that in a country that's so wealthy, that has allowed 11,000 people and further to go homeless and to be in emergency accommodation. Thank you.
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