Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Phelan for raising this matter and for her proactive approach to it. As she, rightly, points out, the pressure on housing budgets means that we must do more with less. Capital budgets for housing have been decreasing over the past five years.

The Government's housing policy statement, published in June 2011, reaffirms our focus on meeting the most acute needs of households applying for social housing support from within the resources available. Our social housing programme is framed in a manner that optimises the delivery of social housing and the return for the resources invested. We are tailoring the use of available Exchequer supports to prevailing conditions and exploring the full range of solutions to address housing needs. Delivery is being significantly facilitated through more flexible funding models such as the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and leasing, but we are also developing other funding mechanisms that will increase the supply of permanent new social housing.

Deputy Phelan has correctly highlighted the challenges faced by local authorities in accessing appropriate properties with which to address social housing need in their areas. Traditional models of large-scale local authority social housing construction are, unfortunately, not feasible in the current economic circumstances, which is why the housing policy statement recognises that the approved housing body sector must play a key role in addressing social housing need.

The Government is committed to exploring and developing such funding mechanisms as will increase the supply of new social housing. Such mechanisms will include options to purchase, build to lease, and the sourcing of loan finance by approved housing bodies for construction and acquisition. The Deputy referred to the CALF scheme, for example, on which we are working with the voluntary approved housing body sector.

In this regard, I am conscious that the move from capital funded programmes of construction and acquisition by approved housing bodies to more revenue funded options presents challenges. I am therefore developing an enabling regulatory framework for the sector that will provide support and assurance both to the sector itself and to its external partners as it takes on the expanded role envisaged for it by Government and will underline its status as a viable and attractive investment opportunity for financial institutions.

My Department is actively working with the sector on the development of a voluntary code which I expect most bodies will endorse. This code, which I hope to launch in the coming months, will serve as a learning opportunity for the sector and for my Department as we develop a longer-term statutory framework that will best support the enhanced role of approved housing bodies. I am satisfied that the widened range of schemes to facilitate social housing delivery and the innovative approach being adopted will enable us to maximize the delivery of social housing within the very burdensome current financial constraints.

The importance of a housing sector built on the pillars of choice, fairness and equity across tenures, is central to the approach being taken by the Government to the housing sector. Providing local authorities and approved housing bodies with a suite of options that can be tailored to meet different categories of housing need is central to the Government's policy approach. I recognise that much of the Government strategy involves the voluntary housing sector but much of it depends on the co-operation of private landlords. The issue the Deputy raised is one I am conscious of. We want to do whatever we can to ensure that we have the co-operation of private landlords through the leasing programme and RAS. Although not directly under my Department, rent supplement is also a major area where housing is provided by the private sector. I am working with the Minister for Social Protection to transfer responsibility for that to my Department and to local authorities.

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