Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 17: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the strategy he has to encourage and promote home ownership to those on social housing waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18218/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Meeting the legitimate aspirations of many households for home ownership has traditionally been a key component of housing policy in Ireland. The Government's housing policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities, emphasised the Government's firm commitment to respond to the needs of households who face difficulty in resourcing home purchase on the open market. The statement highlights the number of paths to home ownership already in place, such as affordable housing and tenant purchase schemes, and a number of paths that are currently under development, including the development of arrangements to allow for the tenant purchase of local authority apartments, which I am aiming to provide for by way of Committee Stage amendments to the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008, and the new Incremental Purchase Scheme.

The objective of the incremental purchase model is to provide an affordable route to homeownership for households that are renting social housing, including from voluntary/co-operative bodies and under the Rental Accommodation Scheme, or households that are, for the first time, being allocated a new house provided by a local authority. Incremental purchase offers social housing applicants the earliest possible start on the path to home ownership for those willing and able to undertake a house purchase. This is in keeping with the graduated, flexible, housing support model, which is at the heart of Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities and also is in keeping with the Government's broader social policy objectives, particularly the life-cycle approach set out in the Towards 2016 social partnership agreement. Provision has been made for this scheme in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008, currently before the Oireachtas.

I also recently introduced new regulations to underpin local authority lending. Housing loans are provided by local authorities for those who wish to build or purchase their own home but cannot access finance from private institutions, including affordable housing purchasers. The Housing (Local Authority Loan) Regulations 2009 replace the previous regulations, providing for a new loan limit of €220,000 and a maximum income of €75,000 in the case of joint applicants and €50,000 for single applicants. The regulations also provide for the introduction of a formal credit policy to ensure prudence and consistency of approach for all local authority mortgage lending.

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 18: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount of social housing units delivered in 2007, 2008 and the amount expected for 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18204/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Information in relation to activity under the range of housing programmes in 2007 and 2008 is set out in my Department's annual and quarterly Housing Statistics Bulletins, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas library and on my Department's website, www.environ.ie. I am confident that the financial provision for housing for 2009 will enable us to maintain a continued high level of momentum in meeting social housing needs. Taking all the social housing programmes together, including those of the voluntary and co-operative housing sector, and having regard to the capacity to access suitable housing available in the current housing market, including through the recently announced long-term leasing initiative, some 7,000 completions are expected to be achieved this year, with a similar level of starts.

My Department continues to explore all options for increasing the availability of social housing by optimising the use of available Exchequer supports and exploring alternative solutions to address housing needs. Local authorities are encouraged to vary the supply options according to prevailing market conditions in order to optimise the delivery of social housing in accordance with the principles of Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities. The evolution of social housing programmes over recent years can be seen in the manner in which the traditional social housing construction programme has been supplemented with other supply options including design/build contracts, Part V acquisitions, second hand acquisitions, turnkey projects and lease options under the Rental Accommodation Scheme. The introduction of new long-term leasing arrangements this year is a further significant step in the expansion of social housing supply mechanisms and will play a significant part in enabling local authorities to meet housing needs.