Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 390: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if a social dividend from National Asset Management Agency properties will be leveraged to alleviate the social housing waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36439/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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On 16 June 2011, the then Minister for Housing and Planning, Mr. Willie Penrose, T.D., launched the Government's new housing policy statement which will serve as a framework for a sequence of legislative and policy initiatives in the short to medium term. 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 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.

There is clear potential, across a range of housing programmes, for the Government's policy 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). I have been engaging, with my Department, very directly with NAMA to discuss options for bringing unsold suitable residential stock controlled by NAMA into productive use for social housing purposes. The first scheme of this nature, with property held by NAMA being purchased by an approved housing body through loan finance from the Housing Finance Agency, was launched in July 2011. Other proposals are currently being examined and I met recently with the Chairman and CEO of NAMA further to encourage NAMA to become involved in leasing options as well as the sale of units.