Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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579. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if the €312 million for social housing announced recently is part of the Social Housing Strategy 2020 plans announced in 2014, and of the social housing targets for local authorities announced recently. [18385/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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580. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of money each local authority will receive from the €312 million package announced recently. [18386/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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581. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the reduction anticipated in waiting lists as a result in the recently announced funding in respect of the number of households and the percentage of those on current local authority waiting lists. [18387/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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582. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of housing units each local authority is expected to construct from the funding it will receive, following the announcement recently. [18388/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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583. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the percentage of the overall current waiting list for local authorities he expects will be met by the recent announcement of €312 million. [18389/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 579 to 583, inclusive, together.

The social housing strategy’s 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, with flexibility to meet potential future demand.

The ambitious targets for each local authority to 2017 announced on 1 April 2015, combined with provisional funding of €1.5 billion, will see local authorities and approved housing bodies use a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes, designed to accommodate 25% of those currently on the housing waiting lists, over that period.

These targets to 2017 include almost 7,500 units that will be capital-funded and 15,400 current-funded units, of which 11,400 will be delivered through leasing and 4,000 delivered through the Rental Accommodation Scheme. This will also be accompanied by the targeted assistance of 28,000 households through the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), to provide supported accommodation in the private rented sector.

Of the €1.5 billion funding to enable the delivery of the Social Housing Strategy targets, €312 million has now been assigned to specific housing projects, which will provide a kick start to the direct-build local authority social housing programme. It is important to recognise that direct build is just one of a suite of delivery mechanisms and this is the first announcement, with further approvals to be announced in due course.

This first phase announcement of some 100 housing projects will deliver some 1,700 units across all 31 local authorities by 2017. The specific details, including funding and the number of units to be constructed in each local authority area are available on my Department’s website at the following link: .

The impact of the projects on waiting lists varies from local authority to local authority with up to 7% of the list covered in some local authorities and 2% covered on average nationally. However, further project approvals will be announced on a phased basis throughout the year as further assessments are completed. It is my intention that all of the projects already announced will be completed by 2017, at latest. The overall social housing targets and expenditure out to 2017, that I announced on 1 April 2015, will on average nationally have a 25% impact on housing waiting lists.

Local authorities are responsible for the detailed planning and social housing provision, at a local level, based on the identified need in their areas. It is a matter for each local authority, working with my Department, to identify and bring forward appropriate proposals to respond to the local housing need including consideration of options to acquire available properties, new building developments, leasing and the provision of housing supports through the private rental sector.