Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. To correct the record, what the Deputy is referring to is just phase 1 of the local authority allocations which were announced a few weeks ago. I have already stated in the House to the Deputy that further phases of allocations will be made very shortly. The capital acquisitions scheme which will provide funding to voluntary housing bodies in association with local authorities will be announced jointly by the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and myself very shortly, and a further phase of local authority housing allocations will be announced in the coming months. This is all based on the proposals coming from the local authorities, including Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, on the priorities they have identified to address the housing challenges in their particular areas.

With specific reference to the question on Part V, the proposed legislative changes to Part V provisions have been set out in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015, which will be debated here in the coming days. In future, the focus of Part V will be on the delivery of completed social housing units, with a requirement for up to 10% social housing in developments of ten or more units. The Bill also proposes a more concerted focus on the delivery of completed Part V units, with other options, such as the making of cash payments instead, being discontinued. I believe the Deputy will welcome this.

While my Department does not have details on the exact number of social housing units to be delivered under Part V in future years, as this is dependent on the number of house construction projects that are commenced, it is estimated that, nationally, in the region of 4,000 additional social housing units will be delivered by 2020 under the revised Part V provisions, using a range of delivery options. I am committed to the principle of a social housing gain from private development and I believe the Part V mechanism has the potential to be a significant contributor to social housing in the context of a recovering housing market.

On 5 May last, the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and I announced a €312 million social housing construction investment programme, with over 1,700 housing units to be built in 100 separate projects across all 31 local authority areas in the period up to the end of 2017. Based on the information supplied by the local authorities, 32 of these projects already have Part VIII planning approval, so they are shovel-ready and under way. The announcement on 5 May was only the first phase of a new social housing building programme and further projects will be announced in the coming weeks.

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