Written answers

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Social and Affordable Housing Provision

Photo of Andrew DoyleAndrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

671. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government in view of the need for additional social and affordable housing in Wicklow, if he will provide a breakdown of the number of ghost estates in County Wicklow together with the number of individual units; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13275/14]

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The information that my Department holds in relation to unfinished estates is from the National Housing Development Survey 2013 which is available at There were, at the time of the survey, 32 developments remaining within Wicklow which are categorised as ‘unfinished housing developments’ (UHDs), comprising of 36 vacant housing units and 17 vacant apartment units.

Budget 2014 contained a special provision, in the form of a targeted €10m Special Resolution Fund (SRF), to assist further in addressing the legacy of unfinished housing developments. The SRF has been proposed to encourage the resolution of the remaining tranche of unfinished developments identified in the 2013 survey and, particularly, those developments not likely to be resolved in the normal way through solely developer/owner/funder action because of the presence of specific financial barriers. It is envisaged that the SRF should be particularly targeted to address the remaining unfinished developments with residents living in them and, in particular, any developments that local authorities identified, for the purposes of the Local Property Tax waiver, as in a seriously problematic condition.

My Department is currently evaluating SRF proposals from local authorities. I hope that the SRF will enable very substantial progress to be made in resolving as many of the remaining unfinished developments as possible.

As regards other housing related supports made available, or potentially available, to County Wicklow, under my Department’s Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP), funding is provided to local authorities for a range of measures to improve the quality and standard of the social housing stock, including the regeneration of disadvantaged estates and flat complexes, estate-wide remedial works, the energy retrofitting of older properties and the provision of adaptations and extensions to meet the specific needs of tenants, along with the provision of social housing.  This year my Department has allocated funding of just under €3 million to Wicklow County Council in respect of their 2014 social housing programme. In addition, earlier this month, as part of a two year local authority home building initiative, I announced the provision of 10 social units in the Wicklow County Council area at an estimated cost of €780,000.

My Department has also recently written to local authorities asking them to issue a “Call for Proposals” to Approved Housing Bodies for a new Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS) for the period from 2014-2016. Some €41 million is being provided nationally for projects assisted under CAS in 2014. Separately, my Department has also been in contact with local authorities advising that funding of up to €30,000 per dwelling will be provided for a suite of retrofitting works to bring vacant properties back to a high standard.  In these two programmes, funding will be allocated on the basis of equitable and evidence based criteria which reflect the merit and cost effectiveness of proposals and the degree of local housing need. Local authorities are required to submit proposals to my Department by the end of March and I intend to announce details of the funding allocations as soon as possible afterwards.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.