Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 40: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for the development of the social housing stock owned by the State over the course of 2012. [13081/12]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Given the constraints on new local authority housing supply, it is important that the existing stock of local authority housing is available and in fit condition to meet housing need. Under the Department's Social Housing Investment Programme, local authorities are allocated capital funding each year in respect of a range of measures aimed at improving the quality and standard of local authority social housing stock, ranging from large-scale regeneration and estate-wide improvement works to the retrofitting and refurbishment of individual vacant and occupied units. My Department also provides capital funding to local authorities to assist with the provision of necessary adaptations and extensions to their properties to meet the needs of tenants with a disability.

In order to better understand the quality and distribution of the national social housing stock and to facilitate the planning of sound and robust improvement works programmes, my Department, in conjunction with the local authorities, is undertaking an audit of the 130,000 social housing units. This will provide a comprehensive data base to inform future targeted interventions aimed at improving the stock. Last year alone my Department provided over €181 million for the various measures under the improvement works programme. This year, the total funding available for the housing capital investment programme will be over €390 million. I envisage making announcements shortly in relation to budgets or allocations for the various housing programmes, including the improvement works programme.