Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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530. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he or his Department officials are concerned regarding the recent announcement made by Ulster Bank on 27 April 2015 regarding persons in long-term mortgage arrears; and if there are concerns regarding the impact this will have on the social housing waiting list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17385/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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In order for a household to qualify for social housing support, a housing authority must carry out an assessment to establish whether the household meets specified eligibility requirements and has a housing need. The housing need criteria, as prescribed in the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, includes a household that has a mortgage that is deemed to be unsustainable under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process. My Department has advised housing authorities that, upon receipt of written confirmation from the lender that a household’s mortgage has been deemed unsustainable, an authority may consider the household to have a housing need.

Social housing is a key priority for the Government, evidenced by the additional €2.2 billion in funding announced for social housing in Budget 2015 and the publication of the Social Housing Strategy 2020in November 2014. The Strategy builds on the provisions contained in Budget 2015 and sets out clear, measurable actions and targets to increase the supply of social housing, reform delivery arrangements and meet the housing needs of all households on the housing list. Importantly, the Strategy restores the State to a central role in the provision of social housing.

The total targeted provision of over 110,000 social housing units, through the delivery of 35,000 new social housing units and meeting the housing needs of some 75,000 households through the Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Scheme, will address the needs of the 90,000 households on the housing waiting list in full and, importantly, provides flexibility to meet potential future demand. In committing to provide these 35,000 new social housing units, at a projected cost of €3.8 billion, the strategy marks a fresh start for social housing in Ireland.

The 2013 housing assessment 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.  In order to ensure that the most up to date and comprehensive data is available on an on-going basis, relating to the numbers applying for social housing support, the Strategyincludes a number of actions to standardise assessment and increase the regularity of assessments including undertaking the summary of social housing assessments on an annual basis from 2016 onwards. In this regard, the numbers on the social housing waiting list will be kept under review.