Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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160. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown per county of the number of local authority houses that have not been let in more than three months; the number that are currently boarded up awaiting works; the number of persons on each local authority waiting list; the total amount allocated by his Department per local authority over the past five years specifically for the upgrading of existing local authority housing stock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12685/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Data relating to the local authority housing stock, including information on vacancy rates and the time taken to re-let properties, are collected annually as part of the Local Government Management Agency’s review of local authority service indicators. Electronic copies of the reports, including the most recent report for 2011, are available on the Local Government Management Agency’s website .

The report on the 2011 Housing Needs Assessment, available on my Department’s website at , contains details on waiting list numbers for each local authority which were recorded under the tri-annual social housing needs assessments carried out from 1993 to 2011 under Section 9 of the Housing Act, 1988. The latest social housing needs assessment was carried out as at 7 May 2013 in accordance with section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2009 and the results are also available on my Department’s website.

The 2013 figures are the most up-to-date figures available on waiting list numbers, which are subject to on-going fluctuation due to households being allocated housing and new households applying for housing support.  However, the 2013 results cannot be directly compared to previous results given that this latest summary employed different methodologies and was the first to be carried out under the 2011 Social Housing Assessment Regulations.

My Department provides capital funding to support a range of measures aimed at improving the quality of the social housing stock. These measures include estate-wide remedial works schemes, the regeneration of run-down social housing estates and flat complexes, the energy retrofitting of older houses and apartments, and adaptations and extensions to meet the needs of tenants with a disability. The compilation of the detailed information sought in relation to the capital allocations to each local authority in respect of each of these measures over the past five years will involve a substantial amount of staff time and resources. The information will be compiled and forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.