Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are spending taxpayers' money on Rebuilding Ireland, building more houses and looking after people who are homeless. There is going to be a 46% increase in spending next year from the commitments we got in the budget. That amounts to €1.9 billion. Some €1.4 billion of that will be capital spending on social house building. That will deliver approximately 5,900 social housing homes through buildings and acquisitions. That covers local authority building, housing body building, Part 5 builds, void conversions and acquisitions. It amounts to 5,900 new houses being added to the permanent social housing stock. An additional 2,000 will be long-term leased for 25 to 30 years. Again, this is permanent social housing stock. In total there will be almost 8,000 homes next year which will be social housing providing secure homes and sustainable tenancies for people.

Clearly the HAP plays a big role in meeting these targets as well. There has been a lot of criticism about the HAP but there are a couple of things about it that are important to know. It gives flexibility to tenants who want that flexibility, and, from an administrative point of view, it saves costs for local authorities in terms of the new functions put in place. This means there is more money to go into other social housing supports. It also leads to better rental inspection standards because of the regulations in place for the HAP, and this is important. In the final two years of the Rebuilding Ireland plan, in 2020 and 2021, our reliance on the HAP for social housing will be less than our reliance on social house building, buying and long-term leasing.

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