Dáil debates

Thursday, 10 December 2015

Other Questions

Local Authority Housing Provision

10:10 am

Photo of Mick WallaceMick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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7. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to introduce specific measures targeted at increasing the capacity of local authorities to build social housing units; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44125/15]

Photo of Mick WallaceMick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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At this stage, most people would agree that the core of our housing problem is the lack of local authority social housing units. Until we decide to target the delivery of more local authority social housing new builds, we will continue to have a housing problem. Is the Government prepared to take more direct action to address the problem?

Photo of Paudie CoffeyPaudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. I reiterate that the Government has firmly put local authorities back at the heart of social housing provision, something that some would argue was abdicated to some degree over recent years. The Social Housing Strategy 2020, which is very ambitious, has targeted the provision of 35,000 new units and these will be delivered by local authorities either directly or through working with approved housing bodies.

The strategy has been supported by two successive budgets with €1.7 billion allocated to social housing. Overall, almost €3 billion in capital funding will be provided in support of the social housing strategy through the Government's capital plan, Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021. This commitment of ongoing financial support has allowed the Minister and I to allocate €500 million to local authorities and approved housing bodies for 2,900 social housing new builds and acquisitions to be delivered between now and 2017.

Since the publication of the social housing strategy, my Department has intensified its engagement with local authorities, ensuring their capacity and preparedness for delivery of the ambitious targets to 2020. Around 400 new local authority housing posts have been approved by my Department to support the housing programme. I have also ensured there is a practical and fair cost recoupment arrangement in place in order that local authorities can fund the additional posts.

The Minister and I have met the CEOs and directors of housing of all local authorities to ensure they have the support they need to deliver on the strategy. As a result of these engagements, the capital project approval process has been jointly reviewed by local authorities and my Department to ensure it is as efficient and streamlined as possible commensurate with the requirements of the public spending code.

Of course, the capacity of local authorities to deliver social housing is not limited to its executive. We are dependent on local authority elected members who must support social housing provision on the ground, especially through the various Part VIII projects that are coming through the planning process. As I said to Deputy Boyd Barrett, I urge all Deputies in this House to be aware of the approvals that have been made for local authorities for social housing programmes in their local areas and to ensure they are supported not just financially but politically because I agree we need to deliver these as soon as possible.

Photo of Mick WallaceMick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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When the Government talks about figures, it is difficult to see the clarity. It always talks about local authorities and approved housing bodies. I honestly think we must be specific and say we need local authority social housing. How many local authority social housing new builds were delivered in the past four years and how many will be delivered up to 2020? I know of a Roma family with four children under four years of age who are looking for a house in Wexford. They cannot get private rented accommodation. The local authority does not have a unit to give to them. It is not possible. One can say there is no appetite for it at local authority level. There is a serious lack of funding there. We have a substantial problem and unless there is a will and an ideology that favours the local authority again playing that major role in providing social housing, we will continue to have this problem.

Photo of Paudie CoffeyPaudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Government sets the policy and strategy nationally for social housing and we have set out a very clear strategy up to 2020 that has ambitious targets for all local authorities. However, we are not just putting in the strategy. We are putting in the funding as well. We have already committed funding. In the past two budgets, we put our money where our mouth is, so to speak, and if we are returned, we will continue to do that.

The ball now moves back to the local authorities. I will be fair to them and say in their defence that they have been denuded of their housing and planning staff over the past ten years. They lost many staff. We are now ramping up and building capacity and have added 400 additional posts, 182 of which are administration posts to deal with procurement and tendering. In addition, 206 technical posts have been approved. We need to move from strategy and funding into the delivery phase. Deputy Wallace will know as a builder that it takes time to build. I was also in the building trade for more than 20 years. We need to acquire the sites, get planning permission and have tenders to get the builders on site. That process is under way. We are beginning to see the diggers going on site. I have seen them in Dolphin's Barn and other regeneration sites and hope to see many more over the coming months.

10:20 am

Photo of Mick WallaceMick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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NAMA has nominated Cerberus as the preferred bidder for Project Arrow. The deal has not yet gone through so I do not understand why the Government does not take some of the built units which are ready for use. I can live with the idea of the developer providing 10% of the units instead of 20% because it would be particularly difficult for small builders to finance it if they provide 20% and lose money. Of the 90% that the builder retains for the private sector, the State should buy a large chunk to give to the local authorities for social housing. It would make a massive difference. It is not good enough that NAMA is building 20,000 units in the Dublin area in the next few years and only 2,000 of them are going to social housing. The State should buy more of them and give them to the local authorities. The waiting list in Dublin increased to 21,592 in July 2015, which is a 25% increase from July 2014. This is a major problem. We need local authority social housing units.

Photo of Paudie CoffeyPaudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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To be fair to all Deputies present, I acknowledge that we are all trying to find solutions and quicker ways of delivering social housing. I assure the Deputy that the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and I are pursuing every avenue available to us to increase the number of available houses. Deputy Wallace was not here earlier when, in response to other Deputies, I made the point that initially NAMA identified more than 6,000 properties for social housing which it offered to local authorities and approved housing bodies. For various reasons, 2,500 of those were taken up and are in the process of being delivered for social housing. A large chunk of them, for one reason or another, were declined. I do not know if they were the wrong size or in the wrong place. It was the housing authorities that declined them, not the Government. It is important to note that.

On top of that, any projects that have been prioritised by local authorities, are ready to go and are shovel ready have been approved for funding. Some have completed the planning process while others are going through it. Unfortunately, some of them are meeting barriers at local level because of opposition to some of the Part VIII applications. We need to see those getting over the line in order that tendering can take place and the builders can be on site. It is noticeable that sites throughout the country are beginning to open. One of the most noticeable ones I have seen is the Dolphin Barn's regeneration project on the canal in Dublin. At long last, we are seeing the diggers there knocking down the old flat complexes to allow for the regeneration of that area. That is only one example. There are more than 200 such projects under way.