Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 1385: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has received proposals from Dublin City Council for the introduction of a sales scheme for flats and maisonettes; if these proposals have been examined; when he expects to be in a position to draw up a sale scheme for the purchase of these housing units; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1981/05]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 1389: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has received proposals from Dublin City Council for a scheme to provide for the sale of flats and apartments to their tenants; if he has completed his examination of the proposal; if his recommendations will enable tenants of two storey maisonettes, originally designed for the housing of senior citizens, to participate in such a sale scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2076/05]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1385 and 1389 together.

Draft proposals involving a scheme for the sale of flats were submitted to my Department by Dublin City Council in June 2004. Officials of my Department have met council officials on a number of occasions concerning the proposals. These discussions are ongoing and further consultations with both Dublin City Council and other housing authorities will be required before final decisions are made on the draft proposals. I am not yet in a position to say when the discussions and consultations will be completed.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 1386: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will report on the initiatives undertaken in the pilot areas in which local authorities are developing housing options for persons who have been in receipt of rent supplement for a sustained period from a health board; when it is intended to extend these options to the Dublin area; and the eligibility which will apply. [2081/05]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the rental accommodation scheme announced by the Government in July 2004, local authorities will, over a four-year period, progressively assume responsibility for accommodating supplementary welfare allowance, SWA, rent supplement recipients of 18 months or more continuous duration with a long-term housing need.

The rental accommodation scheme is a collaborative project between my Department, local authorities, the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the community welfare service. All local authorities will implement the new arrangements during 2005. Roll out has commenced in an initial group of lead authorities, namely Dublin, Galway and Limerick city councils, South Dublin, Donegal, Offaly-Westmeath county councils and Drogheda Borough Council. The main actions to date have been to put in place the structures necessary to commence the project, identify and resolve, where possible, any issues arising and to engage resources needed to support the implementation of the scheme.

My Department has established a project implementation team to oversee and guide the implementation process. Programme managers have also been appointed initially to assist the lead authorities but thereafter to be available to support other authorities over the implementation period. Regional and local implementation groups, initially in the lead authority areas, are being established to ensure effective ongoing liaison and co-operation locally between housing authorities, health boards and other welfare agencies.

Work has commenced in the lead authorities towards identifying persons on rent supplement in need of long-term housing support. Starting with persons who have been in receipt of rent supplement for 18 months or more, community welfare officers in health boards are reviewing each case and, subject to eligibility criteria, will transfer a file to the relevant housing authority for the purposes of establishing long-term housing need. Persons will be assessed as having a long-term housing need where the local authority considers that they are likely to require housing support for the foreseeable future and are unlikely to be in a position to provide for their accommodation needs from their own resources. Certain categories of person are ineligible for support under the scheme. These are asylum seekers or other non-nationals who do not have leave to remain in the State permanently and people availing of transitional retention measures, such as back to work allowance recipients.

Where a long-term housing need is identified by the local authority, it will set about sourcing suitable accommodation for the household under the rental accommodation scheme as quickly as possible. Local authorities will provide accommodation mainly through availability contracts with landlords. The use of public private partnership type arrangements to put in place long-term contracts for the supply of rented accommodation will be a feature of the scheme.