Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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9. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the extent to which discussions have been entered into with the various local authorities with a view to providing rapid-build or modular housing for sale or rent to suitably qualified persons including those on the local authority housing list and others who marginally failed to qualify for local authority loans or eligibility for local authority housing on income grounds; if contracts can be entered into with the construction industry to provide such developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45254/17]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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This question relates to the extent to which the Minister and his officials engage with the various local authorities with a view to identifying specific objectives in the shortest possible time. I welcome the Rebuilding Ireland proposals, the housing programme in general and the funding for it, but the most serious problem that exists is the problem now. It is an imminent problem, hence the question.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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My Department has examined housing affordability in consultation with the Housing Agency, local authorities and other stakeholders as part of the targeted review of Rebuilding Ireland. The review is now at an advanced stage and I expect to be in a position to announce details of the outcome, including any additional measures, in the coming weeks.

All local authorities have been requested to prepare strategic development and management plans for residential lands in their ownership to ensure they are brought forward for development at the earliest opportunity. My Department facilitated a workshop for local authorities in July of this year to commence this process. Once all the plans have been reviewed and finalised, they will be made available publicly on the dedicated Rebuilding Ireland website, as well as the website of the relevant local authority.

Utilising rapid build and other innovative construction technologies can accelerate housing provision as timeframes are considerably shorter than for traditional build. To date, my Department's focus in respect of this form of house-building has been on encouraging its use for accelerated delivery of social housing, and considerable progress is being made in this regard.

The question of utilising rapid-build methodologies for affordable housing will ultimately be a matter for consideration in the context of individual projects. My Department's immediate focus is on considering the income limits and other eligibility considerations for such a scheme, as well as overall value for money. As I indicated earlier, I expect to be in a position to announce further details of measures in this regard in the coming weeks.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the progress to date. However, there is another issue, as I see it. There is a multiplicity of housing bodies - voluntary bodies, approved housing bodies, charitable bodies - all vying with one another to supply the housing market. To my mind, they are competing and obstructing one another because they are in the same place at the same time, increasing the cost of housing because they are competing in the same market, hence the necessity to produce a plan that is short-term, that is rapid in its delivery and that the local authorities recognise. The local authorities could then identify a specific number by which they propose to address the housing need in their respective local authority areas, as opposed to the general, broad-brushstroke approach that has been applied. It should be recognised that this is to address a housing deficit that goes back about 15 years. I believe there is a terrible reluctance to resolve the deficit and go back to direct build and provision of local authority houses on the one hand for people on local authority lists and, on the other, people in lower income groups who ordinarily were able to acquire private sites, developed sites, subsidised sites and local authority loans, all of which have disappeared in recent times. This is what I feel we need to emphasise and target.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Deputy's contribution. He is correct to talk about a multiplicity of housing bodies in this country. We have hundreds of them. They operate at different tiers - tiers 1, 2 and 3 - tier 3 comprising the housing bodies that operate at a significant scale, that is, at the kind of scale we would like to see, although we would like them to do more, as housing bodies in other jurisdictions do. Later this month we will move to begin taking the voluntary regulation of the sector onto a statutory footing. In that process we hope to be able to entice larger housing bodies from abroad into this jurisdiction. We also hope some housing bodies will come together and work together. One of the changes we made as a result of the housing summit earlier this year - and the Deputy is right to point this out - is that local authorities will no longer compete with first-time house buyers and families looking to buy homes in high-demand areas. They will take that money and put it into building. That is important. If a local authority is not going to be competing with other householders, it does not make sense that housing bodies would compete with one another either. This is why it is important we have these managed plans for each site, per each local authority. The Minister of State, Deputy English, is responsible for working with the local authorities on each of these plans, which are being submitted to us at present, for each piece of land they have and the targets they have into 2018 and beyond so we can see how units will be built.

Regarding rapid build, there is a very quick turnaround time. My Department can give approval on the funding side within 24 hours. Then there can be a tendering process within four weeks and the house can be completed on site within six months of that process. One of the interesting things happening at present is that Dublin City Council has for the first time brought forward a multi-unit rapid framework. It hopes to deliver 600 apartments through rapid build. If this Dublin City Council project bears fruit, if it is successful and if it works to the timelines as envisaged, it will allow other local authorities to move in a similar vein and further increase our ambition for social housing.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister's ambitious plans and I have no doubt but that he will see them through, and it is in everyone's interest that he does so. Each local authority, with particular reference to the numbers on the local authority housing waiting lists, needs to be asked the simple question, how quickly can it deliver, and how many units can it deliver in the shortest possible time? The six-month period is a great idea. That is what we need. All the discussions I have had with local authorities - and I am sure my colleagues on all sides of the House have had similar discussions - are vague, and they say it will take two or three years before units are built. This problem is now, not in two or three years' time. Every effort needs to be put into achieving the targets in the shortest possible time, and I know the Minister will ensure that. It will have a dual benefit in that it will reduce the pressure on people who do not own their homes, homeless people in particular, and it will reduce the price of houses generally. House prices in this country are way beyond those of most of our EU and European colleagues.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Again, I agree with the Deputy. I will talk about some of the timelines we have had in place and how we are changing them. We had the eight-stage approval process, which has changed to a four-stage process.

7 o’clock

We are currently working to assess whether we can put in deadlines within each of those stages so people can be clear as to exactly how long procurement should take through the normal process.

Again, we have had the framework since January of this year and I talked about procurement for rapid build and how quickly that can be done. When we talk about dealing with our homelessness crisis - the Deputy mentioned modular housing, which is separate from rapid build, involves a prefabricated house and is different from a modular home - the Minister of State, Deputy English, and I are currently looking at options and a potentially quicker process that might help homeless families and assist local authorities in meeting their needs. That is something we are examining and I will not be able to speak about it until we have made a definite decision. When we do, I hope it will be a positive one because that will be another lever by means of which we can help people who need our help the most in terms of finding accommodation and sustainable homes.