Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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12. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government with regard to the actual delivery of new homes for those on the social housing list, if he can provide a breakdown by local authority of the number of homes he expects to be delivered by Part V in 2015, 2016 and 2017; if he will further report on how many Part VIII for social housing have been forwarded to him by local authorities for approval since his announcement of new funding in October 2014 and provide details of these, including numbers of units per local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22333/15]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The most serious crisis facing this country is the lack of affordable and social housing for people. The Government committed to delivering 15,800 social housing units this year. Can the Minister of State tell us if we are anywhere even close to those figures? Certainly, going on the experience of what is happening in Dún Laoghaire, where there will be a total of five this year, if that is indicative of what is happening in the rest of the country, these targets are a complete sham.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for the question. To correct the record, what the Deputy is referring to is just phase 1 of the local authority allocations which were announced a few weeks ago. I have already stated in the House to the Deputy that further phases of allocations will be made very shortly. The capital acquisitions scheme which will provide funding to voluntary housing bodies in association with local authorities will be announced jointly by the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and myself very shortly, and a further phase of local authority housing allocations will be announced in the coming months. This is all based on the proposals coming from the local authorities, including Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, on the priorities they have identified to address the housing challenges in their particular areas.

With specific reference to the question on Part V, the proposed legislative changes to Part V provisions have been set out in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015, which will be debated here in the coming days. In future, the focus of Part V will be on the delivery of completed social housing units, with a requirement for up to 10% social housing in developments of ten or more units. The Bill also proposes a more concerted focus on the delivery of completed Part V units, with other options, such as the making of cash payments instead, being discontinued. I believe the Deputy will welcome this.

While my Department does not have details on the exact number of social housing units to be delivered under Part V in future years, as this is dependent on the number of house construction projects that are commenced, it is estimated that, nationally, in the region of 4,000 additional social housing units will be delivered by 2020 under the revised Part V provisions, using a range of delivery options. I am committed to the principle of a social housing gain from private development and I believe the Part V mechanism has the potential to be a significant contributor to social housing in the context of a recovering housing market.

On 5 May last, the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and I announced a €312 million social housing construction investment programme, with over 1,700 housing units to be built in 100 separate projects across all 31 local authority areas in the period up to the end of 2017. Based on the information supplied by the local authorities, 32 of these projects already have Part VIII planning approval, so they are shovel-ready and under way. The announcement on 5 May was only the first phase of a new social housing building programme and further projects will be announced in the coming weeks.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister, Deputy Kelly, in a letter to one of our councillors, stated that 15,800 social houses would be delivered this year. As the Minister of State rightly said, the reason he cannot give us figures and the reason those houses are not being delivered is that it is dependent on construction in the private sector. That is the problem, is it not? That is why were not getting the delivery. In Dún Laoghaire, against a target of 681 units, HAP has this year delivered none; the figure for those built or acquired is none; for leasing, none; for voids, one; and for RAS, four. It is not happening, and this is because 85% of the target for this year is dependent on the private sector, which is a total mirage, is it not? The Department is not going to get anywhere even close to the target it has set for this year because it is depending on the private sector to deliver the units.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Nobody can second-guess the number of housing projects that will commence in the private sector. However, as I indicated in reply to Deputy Cowen on an earlier question, there are now very strong signs of recovery in the housing market, given the number of housing projects getting off the ground and the number of commencements and planning permissions going through.

Even if we were to pursue the Deputy's solution, which is the direct build of local authority houses alone, there would still be a timelag in providing those units. What the Department has had to do is look across a wide range of measures to respond to this housing challenge. First, we looked at the voids and vacant housing stock which were unacceptably lying vacant. These are existing local authority houses in local authorities across the country. We have ring-fenced funding and provided allocations to local authorities, and we have asked them to prioritise this and to turn units around efficiently so they are put back to beneficial use as quickly as possible. Additional funding was provided to local authorities for this. Some 2,000 units were turned around last year and another 1,000 vacant units will be provided this year. We are also providing funds for direct acquisition to local authorities and voluntary housing bodies so they can buy houses in the interim period before the new projects are built.

We have green-lighted the shovel-ready projects the Deputy is speaking about and we have provided the funding to the local authorities. We cannot magic up more projects if the local authorities are not coming forward with them. In the meantime, we are making other provisions, such as the Part V provision. In the past five years, Part V has delivered literally nil units because private construction was not happening but we are now beginning to see it happening. We are removing the ability of people to substitute with cash. We will deliver units under this scheme and we are using every mechanism available to us because it is a priority for this Government.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister of State can blind us with jargon and with projections and figures. However, based on the Minister's own letter, 85% of what was promised this year is dependent on the private sector - 3,000 from leasing and 8,400 from HAP. It is not happening and it is not going to happen. The landlords are not interested in getting involved in this and the construction is not happening on the level that is needed. The Government's entire social housing policy is predicated on getting stuff from the private sector.

Can I point out something else?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Sorry, Deputy. This is Question Time so will you put your questions?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Is it not a total fantasy? On the voids, at a meeting last night we were told by someone from Women's Aid that Dublin City Council is saying it cannot get the money from the Government to turn around the voids in the Dublin City Council area.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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That is not true.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Hand over the money.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I am seriously concerned if the Deputy is saying that local authorities in Dublin are not being provided with the funding to turn around vacant units. It is in the Estimates and it is on the public record. I would challenge any local authority and, indeed, I challenge the Deputy to sit down with his local authority-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I have done it.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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He should bring them forward to us. If they are not turning around voids for which this Government and the country is providing funds, then we have a problem at local authority level.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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There are hardly any voids in Dún Laoghaire.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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If the Deputy is stating that on the record of the House, I challenge him to bring that local authority to account. I also challenge all local authorities, including Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, to come forward with their proposals. The Department, the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and I are working proactively on a weekly basis in looking for solutions. It is all very well to come in here to say this is not working and that is not working. We are interested in finding solutions to help people who have housing problems and we are finding them.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I have been telling the Government the solution for four years - direct build.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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We need the assistance of Deputies and local authorities in coming forward with them. They will find there is a very open ear in this Department in terms of the delivery of houses in an early phase. I look forward, over the coming weeks and months, to announcing more projects in Dún Laoghaire and other local authority areas around the country.