Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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33. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views regarding the proportion of new homes which must be reserved as social, or affordable, housing under Part 5 of the Planning and Development Acts; his further views that the original intent of Part 5 is being achieved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9079/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Under the existing Part V provisions, developers are required to ensure that up to 20% of land zoned for residential, and other uses, shall be reserved for social or affordable housing. However, with the substantial fall off in private construction, very little social housing is currently being provided under Part V. Informed by a recent review of the Part V provisions, which included a public consultation process, my Department has incorporated the required legislative changes into the General Scheme of the Planning and Development (No. 1) Bill which was published in November 2014 and is available on my Department’s website at:

The General Scheme of the Bill was the subject of pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht. The Bill is currently being drafted in consultation with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel with a view to publication in the coming weeks and enactment before the summer recess.

The General Scheme provides that, in future, the focus of Part V will be on the delivery of social housing, with a requirement for up to 10% social housing in developments in excess of 9 units.  In the operation of these revised Part V arrangements, the priority will be to secure social housing units on-site; the making of cash payments in lieu of social housing is to be discontinued.

The changes to the Part V provisions that are proposed are a key component of the range of delivery mechanisms that will be required to achieve the targets set out in the Government’s Social Housing Strategy 2020 – Support, Supply and Reform.

Under the revised Part V provisions, it is estimated that in the region of 4,000 additional social housing units will be delivered by 2020. My Department has written to local authorities in recent days highlighting the importance of ensuring that Part V agreements are discharged in ways that maximise the potential for the immediate delivery of social housing units. I am committed to the principle of a social housing gain from private development and I believe that the Part V mechanism has the potential to be a significant contributor to social housing in the context of a recovering housing market.