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

While the figures in respect of housing completions for the fourth quarter of 2013 are not yet available, I expect that some 5,000 units of accommodation were delivered across the full range of social housing measures last year. Delivery of social housing is significantly facilitated through more flexible funding models such as the rental accommodation scheme and leasing, but the Government continues to be committed to other funding mechanisms, including the use of private finance by approved housing bodies, AHBs, for the construction and acquisition of social housing units.

In July 2012 my Department announced a construction and acquisition programme for the local authority and voluntary sectors over the period 2012 to 2014. This comprised 808 units of accommodation in total, involving 185 units by way of local authority construction, 246 local authority house purchases, 111 units of construction under my Department’s capital assistance scheme and 266 acquisitions by AHBs.

Over the course of 2013 my Department issued funding approval for the acquisition of a further 385 units of accommodation involving 250 local authority and 135 AHB house purchases. As I am awaiting returns for quarter four in respect of housing completions, I cannot as yet provide firm figures for the year as a whole. However, at the end of September more than 400 units had been completed.

In terms of overall social housing numbers, the eighth annual report on service indicators published by the local government management services board in April 2013, which details service indicators in local authorities in 2011, put the total number of dwellings in the local authority social housing stock at 130,810. Looking ahead to 2014, I recently signalled a return to modest levels of new housing construction over the next two years. I expect around 1,000 new starts over that period. Some 400 of these will be delivered under the local authority housing construction programme, 250 will be delivered by approved housing bodies and 350 new homes will be provided under regeneration. I will be making more detailed announcements on each of these measures shortly.

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