Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. Housing for All is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 units per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost-rental homes. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4 billion per annum through an overall combination of €12 billion in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5 billion in funding through the Land Development Agency and €5 billion funding through the Housing Finance Agency. Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes and 3,500 social homes through long-term leasing in the period 2022 to 2026. Our clear focus is to increase the stock of social housing through new build projects delivered by local authorities and approved housing bodies.

Under Housing for All, there is provision for 200 social housing acquisitions each year. However, with increased pressures on housing and the exit of landlords from the market, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage reinstated delegated sanction to local authorities in April 2022 to acquire social housing properties for a number of specific categories, including properties that allow persons to exit or prevent homelessness. One of the priority categories was to address homelessness, which would include the acquisition of a property to exit a household from emergency accommodation or the acquisition of a property that would prevent a household from becoming homeless. The Minister specifically requested that local authorities be proactive in acquiring properties where a housing assistance payment, HAP, or RAS tenant had received a notice of termination due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property. A circular also issued to local authorities, on 8 March, setting out these revised arrangements.

The Government has agreed there will be increased provision for social housing acquisitions in 2023 and the Department will fund local authorities to acquire up to 1,500 social homes. This represents an increase of 1,300 on the original target for acquisitions. Local authorities have delegated sanction to deliver the 1,300 additional acquisitions, subject to those acquisitions being within acquisition cost guidelines issued by the Department. Where a person is on the social housing list in one local authority area but has secured a HAP tenancy in another local authority area, the arrangements in place will support the acquisition of the property, where appropriate. The City and County Management Association has assured the Minister that local authorities are collaborating on such situations and the Department will work closely with local authorities on this measure.

Under Housing for All, 250 additional posts have been approved for local authorities specifically to support the delivery of social housing. While the majority of the posts are technical, a significant number of administrative posts have also been approved.

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