Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 447: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the way he will deal with the housing waiting list; the extent of that list and the last assessment of needs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27514/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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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. It will place 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 their own resources. The financial parameters the coming years rule out a return to very large capital funded construction programmes by local authorities. Nevertheless, the Government is 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 and 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). A statutory assessment of housing need is carried out every three years by all housing authorities. A report on this year's national assessment of the need for social housing support was published recently by the Housing Agency. The overall results indicate that at 31 March 2011 just over 98,000 households were in need, compared with over 56,000 in 2008. Detailed information on both assessments is available on my Department's website, www.environ.ie .