Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the estimated time for the delivery of the already promised National Asset Management Agency housing units. [5552/13]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an update on the delivery of the National Asset Management Agency housing for social lease including any units which have been identified but now excluded, units ready for occupation, occupied units and vacant units which are suitable for occupation. [5551/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 133 and 193 together.

Since December 2011, NAMA has identified 3,949 properties as being potentially available for social housing. The local authorities and the Housing Agency have been working systematically with NAMA to determine if there is a social housing demand for properties identified as potentially suitable for social housing, including the need for accommodation for those who are homeless. Of that 3,949, some 981 units have been identified as unsuitable by housing authorities. A further 652 have been withdrawn, usually by property owners as circumstances change. For example, units are sold or leased privately and, therefore, are no longer available.

Demand or suitability has been confirmed by housing authorities for some 670 units that are at various stages of negotiation. Efforts are being made to secure as many of the suitable properties as possible for social housing. It will continue to be my Department's objective in 2013 to maximise the delivery of social housing using all of the resources available.

By the end of 2012, some 203 units had been sourced through NAMA, 179 of which were delivered for social housing purposes. These units were delivered through a variety of funding mechanisms by local authorities and approved housing bodies, AHBs, as follows: 65 through direct leasing arrangements; 57 purchased directly by local authorities; and 57 purchased by AHBs using funding under the capital assistance scheme.

While progress has been made to date in terms of delivering units for social housing purposes, it has not been achieved at the rate originally envisaged. In the main, this is due to the complexities of getting agreement from multiple parties operating within an environment subject to a range of legal and financial constraints. I hope that the establishment by NAMA of a special purpose vehicle in 2012 to facilitate the leasing of units will accelerate delivery in 2013.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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We have probably had NAMA for four years or longer. The delivery in terms of social housing has been disappointing, to say the least. Some 203 units have been delivered overall. In 2011, it was claimed that almost 2,000 units had been identified, but these were whittled down to a small number. Another claim of 3,879 identified units has also been whittled down because some of those units have been sold.

More than 100,000 people are on the housing waiting list. Families included, we are discussing a couple of hundred thousand people. This disaster is building. More and more people are attending our clinics about housing issues.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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A question, please.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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When will local authorities receive the identified units? The mechanism might be complicated.

It might have a lot of legalities attached to it. I accept the Minister has set up the special purpose vehicle to deal with the issue. However, we need action. We must get the mechanism up and running, identify properties, secure agreement and convert them into social housing or bring them under the remit of voluntary housing groups. The situation is urgent.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I accept that progress was slow in the early stages but it is accelerating. As he accepted, that is largely due to a couple of factors on which we have been working hard. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, and I met with the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, on a number of occasions last year.

The special purpose vehicle is important because it involves gathering units into it which then can be passed on through the voluntary housing sector or the local authority sector. There was a problem with leasing, namely, some difficulties on agreeing leases with voluntary housing bodies. They have now reached an agreement with NAMA on an appropriate lease that appears to satisfy everybody. That will speed up matters as well.

We got a specific allocation in the budget, to which the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, referred, to ensure that we would have funding this year. To give some indication of figures, while we have more than 200 over the line, between 600 and 700 are being processed. I hope we will have the majority of those through this year.

I was in Scotch Hall in Drogheda last Thursday and met with residents who had moved into some of the units. The experience has been positive. When the various bodies involved with NAMA – owners and receivers – realise that this can be a positive development, and where we have local authorities and voluntary housing bodies working with us, I am confident that we will see an acceleration. I am driving the process. I wish to ensure that we get those units because as the Deputy said, many people are waiting for social housing.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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The year 2012 was probably the worst on record for house building. It is disappointing that we have not made more progress. I accept there are problems in terms of the legalities and I hope the special purpose vehicle will address most such issues. I am interested in learning more about what is entailed in the leasing agreement. To date, leasing agreements are being entered into for a period of 20 years to 25 years with voluntary housing groups and then there is a possibility that the properties would return to the owners. That is unacceptable. They should belong to the State. NAMA is a State company and such units should be in State control. I cannot envisage any circumstances in which they should return to a developer in NAMA.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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On question No. 193, the problem is that the State, through the taxpayer, is taking on the liability with NAMA. As Deputy Ellis indicated, NAMA is a State company which means it is owned by the citizens of the State. The problem is that we have taken on the liability but now NAMA seems to be in hock to the developers, in the sense that it is leasing from them.

I have a suggestion that could be examined. We have estates full of empty houses. The Minister of State is familiar with Gleann Alainn and other estates in County Laois. In some estates only a few houses are occupied and there are dozens of empty houses. Could the Minister of State examine the possibility, through NAMA or the Department, that where bonds have not been paid or developers have absconded that houses could be secured in lieu of a bond? If, for example, there were 30 empty houses, could ten of them be secured in lieu of the bond in order that the estate could be finished? The local authority would get ten houses and the State would receive a dividend. The State is taking all the risk. Joe and Mary Taxpayer are taking all the risk. I accept that the Minister of State has said she is trying to accelerate the process. I saw her on the television recently in Drogheda. I welcome what took place there. It is a good news story. However, as Deputy Ellis stated, the problem is that the liability still rests with the taxpayer and the money is still filtering back to developers. Where they have not finished estates, could some of the houses be taken in lieu?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I appreciate that Deputy Stanley has put forward suggestions. We are examining all of them. The difficulty with NAMA is that as part of its legislative remit it must return an economic dividend to the State. At the same time they have a remit on a social dividend.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Houses come under that.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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We must get that balance right. In fairness to NAMA, it has put several million euro into restoring and bringing these various units up to a level where they can be taken over. We will continue to meet with NAMA. We have not met with it yet in 2013 but we will do so. We will ensure that we get the best possible dividend from it. I understand there are still a number of empty properties throughout the State-----

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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There are hundreds of them.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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-----and we want to get as many of them as we possibly can. There is an economic dividend involved. NAMA is holding them in the sense that it does not have them to give away for free and we must be conscious of that.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I have a raised this issue on a number of occasions with the Minister of State. Does she not recognise that the progress being made in this area is pathetic given that the census of population identified that there were 340,000 empty houses and having regard to the number of people on the housing waiting list, namely, some 100,000 families? It is unbelievable that so little progress has been made when the housing waiting list is longer than it has ever been and we have more empty housing units that we ever had in the State.

The Minister of State does not seem to acknowledge that NAMA and the number of empty houses identified are not a panacea because there is a shortage of housing in areas such as Dublin and the surrounding areas in of some of the bigger cities. There must be some direct building of social housing if we are to make even a dent in addressing the record length of the housing list. It is unacceptable. Some families in my area have been on the housing waiting list for 13 years. What proposals has the Government to reduce that waiting time to acceptable levels? Nobody should have to wait longer than two or three years on a housing list.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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I am fully aware that trying to move units from NAMA into social housing is not black and white all the time. Neither is it easy for NAMA to sell units all the time. There are complications about selling units under many of these projects. Many of these housing units or apartments would not necessarily suit social housing but many of them would. Does the Minister of State agree that currently, large stocks of apartments or houses that are being sold off, be it by NAMA or by the banks, at less than what it would cost to build the units tomorrow, even if one were to get the land for nothing? The notion that the State would sell property that could be used for social housing purposes in order to bring in some money, even though the units are being sold for less than it would cost to build them, does not make sense. It is a good time for the State to use these assets to provide for its people and to direct them towards social housing provision rather than selling them off to bring in some funds.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I appreciate the points the Deputies have made but we are under severe constraints with regard to the troika agreement and the amount of public money that can be spent at present. Therefore, we have to get the best possible value for money. While I would love to be do what Deputy Boyd Barrett has suggested and provide for the building of a large number of local authority houses - I hope we will do that again - we are not in a position to build them on the scale he mentioned. We have to use the various mechanisms available to address the needs of people in whatever way we can, whether it be acquiring units from NAMA, which we are doing, leasing arrangements and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, with which the Deputies are familiar. There is also the method I discussed with Deputy Catherine Murphy, on foot of her priority question, around transferring rent supplement to the local authorities whereby we would have all of the long-term housing requirements under the one system. We are moving to reform measures in whatever way we can. We are using whatever available mechanisms we have to house people. When we restore the country to economic sovereignty and start to build up the economy again by all means we will return to much more substantial housing building than we have currently. The Deputy who said that there is beginning to be a shortage of accommodation in the Dublin area is right.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That has to be addressed.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I agree but it must be done through the market as well as through the social housing system.