Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 110: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applicants on housing waiting lists in each local authority on a county-by-county basis; the degree to which this issue will be addressed in the short, medium or long term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24361/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Detailed data are being finalised and I expect to be in a position to release the statutory Housing Needs Assessment figures for 2011 shortly. The total number of households on the local authority waiting lists nationally, the "net need", amounts to just under 100,000 households.

The Government's new housing policy statement, launched in June 2011, will serve as the framework for a sequence of legislative and policy initiatives in the short to medium term providing a range of housing supports to those in need. Based on a number of fundamental principles and goals that will form the foundation of a substantial reform programme, the new framework for housing policy responds to current and emerging conditions in the housing sector, taking account of the dramatic cycle of rapid growth and sudden collapse in the residential property market. The centrepiece of the approach is to chart a way forward for housing policy in Ireland by placing greater emphasis on:

· choice;

· equity across housing tenures; and

· delivering quality outcomes for the resources invested.

In terms of the delivery of social housing, the policy statement clearly identifies that the main focus in terms of supports provided by Government will be on meeting the most acute needs – the housing support needs of those unable to provide for their accommodation from own resources.

The financial parameters in which we will be operating for the coming years rule out a return to very large capital funded construction programmes by local authorities. Nevertheless, we are committed to responding more quickly and on a larger scale to social housing support needs through a variety of mechanisms, including through increased provision of social housing. Delivery of social housing will be significantly facilitated through more flexible funding models such as RAS and leasing, but the Government is also committed to developing other funding mechanisms that will increase the supply of permanent new social housing. Such mechanisms will include options to purchase, build to lease, the sourcing of loan finance by approved housing bodies for construction and acquisition. There is also obvious potential, across a range of housing programmes, for the Government's objective of sourcing and providing suitable residential units for use as social housing, to be aligned with the commercial objectives of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 111: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which funding is available through the local loans fund or otherwise to meet the housing requirements of first-time house buyers or those on local authority housing waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24362/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

No funding restrictions have been placed on local authorities for the purposes of providing loan finance for house purchase or home improvement. Allocations totalling over €51m issued to local authorities for House Purchase and House Improvement lending in April 2011, an increase of almost €20m (or 61%) on the 2010 allocation of almost €31m. These allocations represent borrowings ceilings rather than financial provisions.