Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To ensure an effective and efficient response to urgent social housing needs throughout the entire country, a variety of mechanisms are provided for under Rebuilding Ireland, the Government's Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness. These include build, acquisition, lease, HAP and RAS. There are a variety of objectives behind this mix of delivery mechanisms, including speed of delivery, the appropriateness and efficiency of support and value for money for the Exchequer. HAP and RAS utilise private rented tenancies to deliver speedy and efficient responses to social housing requirements. Under budget 2019, the current expenditure allocation for these programmes amounts to €557 million, which funding will deliver more than 17,000 units of much needed social housing solutions. In addition, just over 2,000 new social housing units will be provided by local authorities and approved housing bodies, AHBs, in 2019 through a variety of leasing initiatives. There is also provision of €155 million in current funding in 2019 for the ongoing costs associated with leasing. It is important to remember that leasing maximises delivery, offers a flexible and efficient response and optimises the use of available resources for the State.

While we have increased our build programmes significantly, it remains the case that more homes can be provided through leasing than could reasonably be expected to be delivered under construction and acquisition programmes alone. For this reason, 10,000 of the 50,000 new social houses to be delivered under Rebuilding Ireland will be leased from a range of different sources. Delivery of new build and acquisitions has been steadily increasing over the first three years of Rebuilding Ireland, with acquisitions rising from 2,000 in 2016 to 2,600 in 2018, while new builds have risen from 3,000 units to just under 5,000 over the same period. In recognition of the need to accelerate the delivery of additional homes, €1.25 billion has been allocated for the delivery of 10,000 new social homes in 2019. This includes an allocation of €747 million for the local authority housing capital budget, which is an increase of one third over 2018.

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