Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking this topic. We will have the chance to discuss other issues in respect of housing tomorrow. One thing that has come across clearly to all Members is the fact that housing construction has fallen to critically low levels. Output is not keeping pace with the additional households that are formed every year. We are told there are 100,000 people on the housing waiting lists. However, the figures I have received for housing units provided last year indicate in the region of 8,000 were provided. Perhaps the Minister of State will confirm this. It is important that social housing should be increased in particular because of the increase in homelessness in the past two years.

I hope the Government can assist the housing associations by resolving some of the existing hurdles and, in turn, deliver more social housing. I have in mind in particular availing of private finance with appropriate terms and conditions and removing the administrative hurdles that exist such as State mortgage charges. The NAMA model has been referred to frequently but I believe the NAMA model should be speeded up in respect of property transfers. I hope we could have at least a three year planned housing development programme. Many areas could be examined but I hope the Minister of State will consider the position of voluntary housing projects.

I have a case which I raised before by way of a parliamentary question in respect of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul project at Ozanam House, Ballinasloe, County Galway, a proposed voluntary housing project for the elderly in Ballinasloe. The project is one of many that requires the Department's capital assistance scheme funding to proceed to the next stage. I understand that by 27 March, which is only 14 days away, local authorities must submit their prioritised lists of capital assistance projects. I hope the project in Ballinasloe will be considered in this allocation. Ballinasloe does not have any housing for the elderly. Let us compare this with a town such as Tuam where Clúid has a successful sheltered housing project, mostly for elderly people.

Given the amount of work that has gone into the project by the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, I hope this can be favourably considered.

Many elderly people are feeling the effects of a combination of social welfare cutbacks and increased rents. This is particularly so in Dublin where due to those issues, more people are on waiting lists for social housing. Homelessness will continue if we do not tackle the issue. The Minister of State has said we will deal with homelessness once and for all by 2016, but a lot more work is needed now if we are to meet that target.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Kitt for raising this matter and I am aware of his interest in the housing area generally.

As Minister of State with responsibility for housing, I am keenly aware of the challenges we face in providing housing supports to a range of vulnerable people in County Galway and elsewhere. The Government's 2011 housing policy statement clearly outlines that the priority for the Government is to meet the most acute needs of households applying for social housing support. The Government is responding to these needs through a variety of mechanisms and more flexible funding models.

To maximise the social housing gain from constrained resources, the social housing leasing initiative and the rental accommodation scheme each play their part. I am fully committed to capturing social housing gain from private developments. Alongside expanding the role of the approved housing bodies, AHBs, in terms of acquisitions and construction, other mechanisms will include options to purchase within the leasing model and build to lease.

As Deputy Kitt said, a relatively small number of houses were built last year. He cited a figure of 8,000 which would not be far off the mark in terms of total housing construction. Increasing both public and private housing supply is a priority for the Government. Earlier today, I was pleased to announce the restart of a local authority mainstream house building programme. Over the next two years €68 million will be invested across the country to build new social homes for families in need of housing. This investment represents the first return to new mainstream local authority house building in a number of years.

This initiative, which will see some 442 new homes built across the country for families on the waiting lists, is just one of a number of Government-backed initiatives we are launching in 2014, which will provide high-quality homes for families. I also intend to announce details of a special investment of €15 million for the retrofitting of boarded-up local authority houses to make these available to households in need of social housing. Not only will these programmes deliver new or better housing for people, they will also create and sustain hundreds of jobs in the construction and green energy sectors.

I know that Deputy Kitt is familiar with the capital assistance scheme, CAS, whereby funding of up to 100% of the cost of projects is provided to approved housing bodies, through local authorities, for the provision of accommodation for persons with specific categories of housing need, including older persons, persons with a disability or homeless persons. Over the years, the CAS scheme has funded the provision of over 27,000 units of accommodation. I am committed to the retention of this worthwhile programme.

In January, my Department requested local authorities to issue a call for proposals under the CAS scheme, requesting approved housing bodies to put forward cost-effective and sustainable proposals to meet the accommodation needs of people with specific categories of housing need within their administrative areas. Local authorities are required to submit a prioritised list of proposals to my Department by 28 March for new construction and acquisition projects to be funded and progressed over the next two years. It will be a matter for local authorities to determine the relative priority of projects on the basis of their contribution to meeting local housing need and to shortlist these in order of merit. Further consideration of CAS scheme projects for funding approval over the next two years, including projects submitted in County Galway, must await the receipt of submissions from local authorities. I therefore look forward to receiving the submissions by 28 March and we will then make decisions very quickly.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I welcome her announcement concerning the next two years when €68 million will be invested across the country for the construction of new social homes for families in need of housing.

The Minister of State referred to 442 new homes being built across the country for families on waiting lists. If it is true that 100,000 people are on the waiting list, however, that will only help a small number of families. Nonetheless, every new home is a help. I hope that, perhaps with the assistance of the Department of Finance, the Minister of State will get further funding to deal with a very long waiting list.

As I have already suggested, the Minister of State might examine what voluntary housing organisations are doing. She might try to assist them because they are determined to provide for real housing needs in County Galway, and I am sure the same applies in other counties. Many obstacles are being placed in the way of such organisations, however, so the Minister of State may hopefully be able to help out by providing them with more assistance. For example, people who get houses through voluntary associations should be able to purchase them under a tenant purchase scheme, which they could do if they were built through a local authority.

The Minister of State did not deal with the question of NAMA. I would like to see the pace of NAMA property transfers being speeded up to ensure that whatever is available there could be provided. In addition, State land could be examined in this regard. NAMA has said it is willing to co-operate in speeding up the transfer of property. I would like the Minister of State to deal with those issues and hopefully tomorrow we will have another discussion on housing.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Kitt for his remarks. We will have an opportunity to address some of those issues tomorrow. I do hope that we will be able to get further funding. I welcome support from all sides of the House in getting as much funding as we can for housing construction because there is clearly a need for it.

The transfer of NAMA units has been speeded up quite a bit. We expect that we will get the full 2,000 units in the lifetime of this Government, which is the commitment we have made. We meet with NAMA's representatives fairly regularly to address these issues. We now have a more simplified system for the transfer of NAMA units.

The Deputy referred to the private housing sector and getting private funding. Under the CAS scheme, only approximately 25% of funding comes from the State, while the voluntary sector raises extra funding. That scheme is progressing. We now have voluntary regulation of the private sector, which they tell us makes it easier for them to obtain funding in the private sector. We have some examples of where that is progressing. I am willing to examine all the various options that come forward.

We expect to deliver about 5,000 units this year, some of which will be from direct construction, some from the CAS scheme, some through NAMA and others through leasing and the rental accommodation scheme. We are using as many different systems as we can because there is clearly a need for such housing.

Along with everybody in this Chamber, I would like to increase the construction of local authority housing. I am happy that today marks the restart of a mainstream programme after the collapse of the economy. I hope that we will be able to make further announcements in the near future.