Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

A statutory assessment of housing need is carried out every three years by all housing authorities. The last assessment took place in 2005 and indicated that there were 43,684 households on local authority housing waiting lists. Detailed information on this assessment is available on my Department's website. Local authorities are currently carrying out the 2008 statutory housing needs assessment, the results of which will be published in due course.

Information on housing need, broken down by housing authority, has been a major consideration in the allocation of Exchequer resources for the national social housing investment programme. This year alone, my Department has allocated a record amount of over €1 billion to support construction and acquisitions projects by local authority across the country, with a further €200 million for regeneration and renewal projects. In addition, close to €300 million in capital grants and loan funding is being provided to support a significant programme of activity by the voluntary and co-operative housing sector.

The Government's housing policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities, and the National Development Plan 2007-2013 reflect the strong commitment to expand social housing provision contained in the social partnership agreement Towards 2016. Under the agreement, 27,000 social housing starts are to be delivered over the period 2007-09. Good progress is being made in meeting this target with some 9,000 new social housing starts achieved in 2007. The resources being made available for social housing under the National Development Plan 2007-2013 will allow for the needs of some 60,000 households to be met over the full period of the plan.

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