The Green Party has called for the Government to cut red tape rather than set up another organisation to tackle what is now a Housing Emergency. Speaking today the Party’s Ciarán Cuffe stated: “The last thing we need is more reports, organisations and red tape ..."We already have two State bodies: the Housing Agency, and Housing and Sustainable Communities Ltd. Do we really need a third? In the Dublin area we have the Dublin Region Homeless Executive and the Dublin Joint Homelessness Consultative Forum as well as the four local authorities. In recent days the Labour Party has also proposed the use of old Garda Barracks for people who are homelessness. Does this Government really know what they are doing? Are they serious in proposing yet another agency to tackle the issue?“We need action. Finance is needed to build homes in the right places, and new laws are required to reduce vacancy rates and increase supply.“Almost 100,000 people are on Housing Lists and yet in Dublin’s inner city alone over 10,000 homes were recorded as vacant in the last Census*. This represented over 13.5% of the housing stock in that area. This is a dysfunctional system that requires action by Government. Existing measures have failed to secure the increase in supply that is required.“In the short term an increase in the level of rent supplement is needed to stop families falling into homelessness. More funding is also required for Councils and Housing Bodies to allow empty buildings to be refurbished and made available. If this required monies from Europe then the Government must act now and seek the necessary funding.“The Government must also legislate to ensure that a portion of pension funds, particularly the funds under State control is used to provide housing for those who cannot afford to house themselves. This is the norm in other European countries.“A Site Value Tax is also needed to bring about the best use of vacant and under-used land and buildings. This measure has been promoted by the Green Party in the past: the time for implementation is long overdue.“There are people sleeping rough outside the railings of the Customs House. Surely Ministers Phil Hogan and Jan O’Sullivan can look out their windows and act on the crisis that is literally on their doorstep.*2011 Census http://census.cso.ie/sapmap/ , accessed 20^th May 2014. There were 74,807 housing units recorded in Dublin’s inner city and 10,118 were recorded as vacant, representing 13.53% of housing units.