Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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575. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of social houses built in County Clare between 1997 and 2015, in tabular form, by year and by location, including those built by the local authority, private developers and housing associations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18299/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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My Department collates and publishes a wide range of housing and planning statistics that inform the preparation and evaluation of policy. It includes data on the number of units provided by local authorities and approved housing bodies (under the voluntary and co-operative heading), broken down by year, and those data are available on my Department’s website at: , by clicking “Social Housing Outputs” under the Social Housing Supports heading.

The data does not record who builds particular social houses but it is highly likely that private developers are contracted to build the vast majority of same. For example, all direct build social housing projects by local authorities are put out to tender as part of a public procurement process.

Social housing is key priority for this Government, evidenced by the additional €2.2 billion in funding announced for it in Budget 2015 and the publication of the Social Housing Strategy 2020 in November 2014. 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 circa 90,000 households on the housing waiting list.

The social housing targets that I recently announced for all local authorities are out to 2017 and include almost 7,500 units that will be capital-funded and 15,400 current-funded units. My announcement also contained provisional funding allocations which are sufficient to deliver the targeted units.

Following on from the target setting process, on 5 May 2015, I announced the first major direct build social housing programme under the Social Housing Strategy, with over 100 separate housing projects across all 31 local authorities. Details are available on my Department’s website at the following link: .

Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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576. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of social housing units that will be made available and purpose-built for persons with a disability, in the recent announcement of 75 social housing units for County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18346/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The social housing construction programme that I announced on 5 May 2015 was in respect of new social housing developments to meet general social housing needs in each local authority area. The provision of housing for persons with a disability and people with special needs is supported under my Department’s Capital Assistance Scheme. In March 2015, all local authorities were requested to invite approved housing bodies to develop and submit proposals to meet housing need in this category. The proposals received on foot of this request have now been received by my Department, including those from Louth County Council, and they are currently being assessed. I expect to announce the approved projects as soon as the assessment process is complete.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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577. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide, per annum from 2015 to 2017, by county, the target and timeframe for the provision of social housing units; the number of new build; social housing leasing initiatives; local authority homes returned to use; and new rental accommodation scheme units; the total costs by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18366/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Social housing is key priority for this Government, as evidenced by the additional €2.2 billion in funding announced for it in Budget 2015 and the publication of the Social Housing Strategy 2020 in November 2014. 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 circa 90,000 households on the housing waiting lists. Social housing targets have been set for each local authority out to 2017 and are available on my Department’s website, along with the provisional funding allocations, at the following link: .

A further breakdown of these targets has been provided to the local authorities, details of which are as follows:

Under capital funding provided by my Department, local authorities will build and acquire social housing units, will support approved housing bodies to provide units via the Capital Assistance Scheme for special needs situations and will support the return of vacant properties to productive use. I have already announced, on 5 May 2015, the first major social housing construction programme under the Social Housing Strategy. This announcement covers some 100 separate housing projects, to provide over 1,700 new social housing units across all 31 local authorities. Details are available on my Department’s website at the following link: .

In 2015, I expect that some 7,400 new social housing units will be provided, broken down as follows:

- 3,000 units under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme;

- 2,000 new Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) units;

- 1,400 units to be built or acquired by local authorities and approved housing bodies; and

- 1,000 vacant local authority units will be returned to use.

Social Housing units under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) are delivered through:

- Local Authority units leased or rented;

- Approved Housing Body units constructed, acquired or leased; and

- NAMA special purpose vehicle owned units.

There is no specific breakdown of the individual local authority targets between these delivery mechanisms, however it is expected that 1,000 units from the 3,000 national SHCEP target will be delivered by Approved Housing Bodies in 2015. Each Local Authority is best placed to determine how best to meet their individual SHCEP targets using all the delivery mechanisms available to them and taking account of the housing circumstances in their area. Funding for the SHCEP and the Rental Accommodation Scheme is provided on a national basis without individual local authority (or approved housing body in the case of SHCEP) funding allocations.