Results 9,341-9,360 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme Administration (1 Apr 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Government, on 17 December 2013, approved priority drafting of a Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill that will, among other things, underpin a new tenant purchase scheme for existing local authority houses along incremental purchase lines. I expect that the Bill will be enacted this year, following which I will prescribe in regulations the commencement date and the detailed terms of...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (1 Apr 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Government's 2011 Housing Policy Statement clearly outlines that the priority for Government is to meet the most acute needs of households applying for social housing support. 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...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Expenditure (1 Apr 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Last month I announced the approval of some 56 social housing construction projects with an overall value of some €68 million under the Local Authority housing construction programme for 2014-2015. This new construction programme will deliver 449 new units of accommodation for people on the housing waiting list. Projects were selected for funding approval on the basis of the...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (1 Apr 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Each housing authority is responsible, under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966, for determining the rent for its dwellings, subject to complying with broad principles laid down by my Department, notably that the rent payable should be related to household income and that low-income households should pay a lower proportion of income in rent. No guidance has issued to housing authorities in...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: National Housing Survey (1 Apr 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The purpose of the National Housing Survey (NHS) is to track the extent and condition of unfinished housing developments. The most recent NHS carried out by my Department was in Quarter 3 of 2013. There were, at the time of the survey, 243 housing units and 40 apartments units recorded as vacant in Longford, and 249 housing units and 35 apartments units recorded as vacant in Westmeath....

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Renewal Schemes (1 Apr 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The downturn in economic activity associated with the recession has resulted in significant numbers of shop closures and vacant units in town centres. Other factors, such as upward only rent reviews, parking charges, rising energy costs and on-line trading have also undermined the viability of small and medium-sized businesses in the retail sector, threatening the fabric of our urban...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (1 Apr 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: At its meeting on 7 May 2013, in line with the recommendation contained in the Final Report of the Mahon Tribunal, the Government approved proposals for the preparation of a new Planning and Development Bill to establish a new Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR). The OPR, which will be established with an independent corporate identity, will have three core functions. It will carry...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Unfinished Housing Developments (27 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am chairing the National Co-ordination Committee on Unfinished Housing Developments to oversee implementation of the Report of the Advisory Group on Unfinished Housing Developments, together with the Government’s response to the recommendations. Regular meetings are held between my Department and local authorities under the auspices of the Committee. However, the management of issues...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Unfinished Housing Developments (27 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Budget 2014 contains a special provision, in the form of a targeted €10m Special Resolution Fund (SRF), to assist further in addressing the legacy of unfinished housing developments. The SRF has been proposed to encourage the resolution of the remaining tranche of unfinished developments identified in the National Housing Development Survey 2013 and, particularly, those developments...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (27 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 141 and 142 together. Data relating to the local authority housing stock, including information on vacancy rates and the time taken to re-let properties, are compiled by the Local Government Management Agency as part of the annual local authority service indicators. Electronic copies of the reports, including the most recent report for 2012, which was...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Mortgages (27 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: There are two types of house purchase loan available from local authorities: standard annuity loans targeted at lower income first time buyers and those under the Home Choice Loan scheme which are available to qualifying middle income first time buyers aff ected by the “credit crunch”. The terms and conditions governing the operation, including eligibility terms, of annuity...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (26 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: In August 2012, my Department issued revised guidelines to local authorities for dealing with mortgage arrears within the local authority sector. Dealing with Mortgage Arrears – A Guide for Local Authorities is available on my Department’s website – . The revised guidelines replaced those issued by my Department in March 2010. While local authorities are not governed by...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Eligibility (26 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Housing Aid for Older People Scheme (HAOP) provides grants of up to € 8,000 to assist older people living in poor housing conditions to have necessary repairs or improvements carried out to their homes. Grant-eligible works include structural repairs or improvements, re-wiring, repairs to or replacement of windows and doors, provision of water supply and sanitary facilities,...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Homeless Accommodation Funding (26 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department’s role in terms of homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility for the provision of accommodation for homeless persons rests with the housing authorities. The purposes for which housing authorities may incur...

Topical Issue Debate: Local Authority Housing Evictions (25 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: As the Deputy said, this is a balance we have to strike. There are some cases in which people make the lives of the people who live around them a misery. As the Deputy will be aware, we will make it easier in the residential tenancies Bill in that the person living next door would not have to directly confront the people causing the problem because, for example, a residents' association...

Topical Issue Debate: Local Authority Housing Evictions (25 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I thank Deputy Ellis for raising this matter. I found the issues he raised most interesting. Each housing authority is responsible, under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966, for the management and maintenance of its own housing stock. It would therefore be inappropriate for me to comment on management issues relating to particular dwellings, as I have no function in individual cases and...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant Funding (25 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The changes to the terms and conditions governing the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability were made on foot of the report of a review group, established last year by my Department to examine the operation of the schemes. Membership of the group included members of the County and City Managers’ Association (CCMA), the Housing Practitioner...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Unfinished Housing Developments (25 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am chairing the National Co-ordination Committee on Unfinished Housing Developments to oversee implementation of the Report of the Advisory Group on Unfinished Housing Developments, together with the Government’s response to the recommendations. My Department launched the Public Safety Initiative (PSI) in March 2011, which provided funding to address immediate public safety issues....

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (25 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Under my Department’s Social Housing Investment Programme, funding is provided to local authorities for the construction and acquisition of social housing units and for a range of measures to improve the quality and standard of the social housing stock, including estate-wide remedial works, the regeneration of disadvantaged social housing estates and flat complexes and the provision...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments Administration (25 Mar 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: On 18 July 2013 the Government approved the introduction of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). Approval was also given for the provision of funding to the local authorities to cover the cost of accommodating HAP recipients, and it was agreed that the Department of Social Protection (DSP) would provide for the implementation of the mandatory direct deduction of rental contributions from the...