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

First, the land acquisition fund was established last year so we had to make sure through the Housing Agency there would be demand for it, which there was. It was appropriate to do that. It was allocated last December, transferred to the Housing Agency and will spend out by quarter 1. We have found through that process that there are additional lands and, particularly, strong demands from our AHBs. Let us consider what the impact of this will be. We are purchasing the land for the AHBs, social and affordable housing and our local authorities, so we are taking that land cost out. It is not just on the resourcing. We are actually paying for that land, which will have the effect of reducing the build cost because the land cost is out. That was the right thing to do, because it is a new fund, in order to see how it would work, how it would be administered and, importantly, even though there was projected demand, to see what would happen out there and what sales would conclude. It has been very successful. That should be welcomed. We knew we needed to increase the land banks we have to develop across the country. We have done that.

On homeless services, I was clear on budget day on this. We have seen a significant increase in those accessing homeless emergency accommodation for various reasons. All of us agree those people need to be supported for as long a time as necessary, though hopefully it is a short time in emergency accommodation.We will spend €300 million this year and that is not just down to the increase in numbers but to the substantially increased cost of providing that accommodation. I said on budget day our allocation for next year will be approximately €242 million, that we would review that this year and that if we require additional funds in mid-year, we would get them. All the NGOs and service providers are acutely aware of that. My desire is to see the numbers decrease. Thankfully, we are seeing significantly more people exiting homelessness now. I will dig out the exact figures and come back to the Deputy in the supplementary replies. From quarter 1 to quarter 3 this year, more than 2,000 adults exited. That was 16% up on last year. There were approximately 2,500 preventions in that period too, 26% up on the year before. Any additional resources, if they are required this year to provide funding for emergency accommodation, will be provided exactly as I have done this year.

The reason CAS has increased further is we brought through new initiatives like the purchase of home with tenant in situ, which has been successful after a slow start. That is a heavy additional spend. There is reallocation within cost rental. All Deputies here support the delivery of cost rental. Because of the changes we have made, we have to bring forward a Supplementary Estimate because of the demand for new cost-rental projects. That is a good thing. STAR did not exist but it opened 27 July for applications. We estimate we will spend €60 million this year on a scheme that only came in five months ago. That is a very good outturn. That is one of the reasons we have to bring forward Supplementary Estimates. We have to be allowed flexibility in our Vote to look at where delivery streams are stronger, how we can support them and where we need to provide additional funding.