Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will support proposals (details supplied) in the housing Bill. [7794/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008 contains a range of measures designed to provide local authorities with a framework for a more strategic approach to the delivery and management of housing services. That framework includes new provisions for the making of housing services plans and the implementation of those plans through housing action programmes. It provides for a more effective management and control regime covering rents, tenancy arrangements, the making of anti-social behaviour strategies and a more developed statutory basis for the Rental Accommodation Scheme. The Bill also provides for the introduction of a new incremental purchase scheme and a new, more objective and comprehensive basis for assessing need and allocating housing.

While the Bill addresses a wide range of issues, there are some other aspects still under development, which I hope to bring forward for consideration at Committee Stage in the Dail. In conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General, work is continuing to resolve the outstanding complex issues in relation to the introduction of a viable sales scheme for local authority apartments. I am also working towards the introduction of an affordable homes purchase scheme which, in the longer term, will facilitate the purchase, through a single equity based mechanism, of property under the various affordable housing schemes. In addition, during the Bill's passage through the Seanad there was considerable debate on providing a statutory basis for the preparation and adoption of homelessness action plans and I am also determined to bring proposals on this matter before the Dail.

However, the Government has decided, in the context of the new Homeless Strategy, that the statutory definition of homelessness will not be changed. It is proposed to review how the definition is applied operationally, for example, to ensure consistency in practice across local authorities regarding its application. This has been made clear in the Homeless Strategy and also in the course of engagement with representatives of service providers in the MakeRoom alliance. In addition, work is currently being undertaken by the Homeless Agency, in partnership with the Centre for Housing Research, to develop a position paper regarding a common operational definition for the Dublin area.

A legal right to housing has not been included in the Constitution on the basis that the funding commitment to the various housing programmes has resulted in increased outputs and that decisions in relation to the allocation of financial resources is a matter for Government, rather than the Courts. This is in line with the 1996 report of the Constitutional Review Group, which concluded that the Constitution should not confer personal rights to freedom from poverty or to other economic or social entitlements. The Group regarded these as being essentially political matters, which should be the responsibility of the elected members to address and determine in a democracy.

The legislative code governing social housing in Ireland is contained in the Housing Acts 1966-2004 and while it does not confer any statutory right to housing, the range and extent of measures implemented demonstrate the State's long standing commitment to ensuring that housing needs, especially social housing needs, are adequately addressed. The Housing (Miscellaneous