Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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593. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Dublin City Council has voted to move away from the historic points and priority housing allocation system to a time on the list system; the date on which he will sign the Ministerial Order to facilitate the change to this system; the reason there has been a delay in signing this order; the way he intends to address the re-housing of the 100,000 people on the housing lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27071/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 all housing authorities are required to make an allocation scheme (in place of a scheme of letting priorities) for social housing. The making and amendment of such an allocation scheme is a reserved function of the elected members of each housing authority. The social housing allocation regulations 2011, which came into effect on 1 May 2011, set out the conditions that housing authorities must take into account when making their allocation schemes including the manner of allocation and order of priority for their authority. This provides Dublin City Council with the relevant legislative basis to underpin their move to the new system. Housing authorities may pursue the “time on the list” approach under the current regulations.

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. In July 2012 I announced details of a three-year funding programme of €100 million to deliver some 800 new units of voluntary and local authority owned social housing. I am monitoring expenditure under my Department’s housing programme for 2013, together with the level of contractual commitments extending into 2014, with a view to a decision later this year on approving some limited new construction and house purchases over the period to end 2014.

Delivery of social housing will be significantly facilitated through more flexible funding models such as the rental accommodation scheme 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). My Department and the Housing Agency are engaged with NAMA to identify suitable housing units for social purposes and this process is on-going.