Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have provided a briefing on this to the committee and I will go through the high-level points of the Department's Estimate for 2021, as well as the Votes for the Valuation Office and the Property Registration Authority of Ireland, which are under the aegis of my Department. We have given some performance information and we have also given a briefing to members. Our time is limited and we will have a further discussion later after the Estimates meeting on the commitments in the programme for Government

It is important to note that the overall Estimate for Vote 34 provided for in budget 2021 is very significant, with just over €5.118 billion in gross expenditure for the year. This is made up of €2.356 billion in current spending and €2.76 billion on the capital side. There was a carry-over of just over €200 million from 2020. Any fair view of that would see that it is a very significant budget for this Department and that it is heavy on the capital side, which is what we need. There is no question but that there will be some impact on delivery, which I will cover later, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the significant shutdown of construction, bar some small exemptions for certain social housing and strategic sites. In general, my Department's funding represents a very substantial element of overall Government expenditure for 2021.

We know that 2020 was a very challenging year for Ireland and 2021 has been no different. We have seen substantial additional funds flow through the Department in the areas of stimulus funding to bring voids back into play. Last year, there were 3,607 voids. They are located all over the country and in all of the local authorities. There were significant waivers provided to support local business and a 100% rates waiver. We also made sure to fund the local authorities with that gap in funding and provided additional funding to support local authorities in the area of homelessness where we have made and continue to make significant progress in tackling homelessness. That has been in no short measure due to the hard work done by those in the NGO sector who work with us, as well as our own staff. It is also because of the substantial priority the Government has given to driving down homelessness. The rate of child and family homelessness year on year has fallen by just over 40% and the level of overall homelessness has reduced by 18%. Homelessness still remains a challenge for us as a Department and it is for us, as a Dáil, to tackle the issue of singles homelessness. There are supports available in that area but it is a significant priority for me to continue the progress the Government has made in a short space of time to ensure that we give people permanent housing, and permanent housing solutions, but are supporting those who need it most through schemes like Housing First, which we will expand further into this year.

Despite the very challenging situation of a very limited construction sector for the first quarter of 2021, the reopening of activity on a broader scale now means that we can work to get back on track. It is too early yet to fully determine the impact. Each week of shutdown will result, between public and private house building, in 800 homes not being delivered this year. We are going to work very closely with our colleagues in local authorities for measures that will support making up some of that lost ground and having a phased delivery of developments. I will continue to work very closely with the local authority sector and our partners in the approved housing bodies to see how we can expedite delivery through 2021, and to make up for some of that lost ground to ensure that we deliver good public and affordable homes for our people.

We have set an ambitious target for this year. We intend to deliver 12,750 new social homes, the majority of which, 9,500, will be through new build, together with some leasing and a small amount of acquisition. We may be looking to allow some further latitude for local authorities on the acquisition side to make up for some of the lost stock. I intend, with agreement in the Government, to bring forward a further voids programme for this year to ensure that vacant stock that lies idle is brought back quickly. I reiterate that last year, we brought 3,607 units back into use. All of them have been allocated already and most have been occupied, which is what we want to ensure is done.

Importantly, in terms of capital funding, a priority for the Government is the delivery of affordable homes for working people and we have real plans in place to do that. I will be bringing forward the affordable housing Bill, and I thank the committee for their work on the pre-legislative scrutiny side. In respect of capital funding, we have provided €468 million specifically to cover affordability measures, of which €110 million is on the affordable shared equity side plus the cost rental equity loan. We will deliver the first cost rental units this year. We have set a target of 440 units but some people have said that it is not enough. Of course we want to build on that but let us remember that we are starting from zero with that new form of housing tenure.

We have an additional €50 million in the serviced sites fund to support local delivery and affordable purchase. I also intend to bring forward changes to the serviced sites fund to allow faster and more efficient delivery of affordable houses on local authority lands. We have additional moneys for the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF. I am also reworking some changes to the Rebuilding Ireland home loan. I have some proposals with me to improve that product and loan.

In addition to the €205 million being spent on the Land Development Agency in its progression of-----