Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 523: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of housing units funded from the capital programme or otherwise which have been made available to each local authority to address housing needs on a county basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31305/10]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The Government's key priorities in shaping overall housing provision have been to focus the impact of necessary adjustments on areas with scope to maintain output through more flexible approaches and where the policy context supports such approaches, and to continue to direct available capital resources substantially towards the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. In keeping with this strategy, the reform programme, now well underway in my Department, involves a re-balancing from construction/acquisition, and a one size fits all approach to meeting social housing needs, towards a more graduated system of supports. This re-balancing, in policy and financial terms, is rooted in the clearly articulated rationale set out in the Government's housing policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities.

While the allocations for 2010 show a reduction in the provision for the main traditional local authority programme, of some 50%, I anticipate that, through more flexible market based delivery mechanisms such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme and long term leasing, as well as the significant increase in funding available under the Capital Assistance Scheme in 2010 to €145m, and the availability from the second half of 2010 of a direct lending facility from the Housing Finance Agency to approved housing bodies, delivery across the range of social housing measures this year will maintain the momentum built up over recent years.