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

I note the reference in the Deputy's question to "real social housing" units after which he then proceeded to outline an entirely unreal comparative analysis. Therefore, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I am happy to outline the actual comparison between social housing delivery in 2017 and the corresponding targets for 2018.

In 2018, local authorities will deliver 2,319 new-build homes, approved housing bodies will deliver 1,500 and 590 will be delivered through the Part V mechanism. This will bring to 4,409 the number of new-build social housing homes to be delivered this year. That is a 92% increase on the comparable 2,297 new-build homes delivered in 2017, of which 1,014 were by local authorities, 761 by approved housing bodies and 522 through Part V. This increase reflects the changing composition of the overall social housing programme as we increasingly deliver more and more new builds while acquisitions and the voids programme become less significant delivery streams.

In addition, it appears that the Deputy's analysis excludes homes delivered through long-term leasing in secure tenancies for up to 25 years. Such homes are very much a real home for the individuals and families that they accommodate and 2,000 such properties are targeted for delivery this year, well over twice the level achieved in 2017.

In addition to the 4,409 new-build homes and the 2,000 leased homes, 560 void homes will be brought back into stock and 900 new homes will be acquired bringing to 7,869 the number of new social housing homes that will be delivered in 2018. This is more than 50% higher than the target for 2017 and more than 11% up on the 2017 output. This is before any account is taken of the housing assistance payment or rental accommodation schemes. In setting local authority targets for 2018, I have been explicitly clear with local authorities that these are minimum targets and that where additional capacity to deliver arises, we will work in partnership with local authorities to drive that accelerated delivery.

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