Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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966. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide in tabular form the amount of funding that has been allocated to each local authority; the amount of funding for housing construction that has been released to each local authority by his Department since the announcement of the social housing strategy 2020; the amount of funding that has been released by his Department for bringing vacant properties back into productive use; the number of voids in Dublin city out of the total of 1,046 that have been brought back into productive use since December 2014; the number of homeless households that have been housed in Dublin since December 2014; if this is in line with the target of providing homes for 500 persons by June 2015; the amount of funding that has been released by his Department since the adaption of Dublin City Council’s budget 2015 to tackle homelessness in Dublin city; and if a hotel under the control of the National Asset Management Agency has been purchased to provide accommodation for homeless families. [20532/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Social housing targets and provisional funding allocations have been set for each local authority out to 2017 and are available on my Department’s website at the following link: .

Since the launch of the Social Housing Strategy 2020in November 2014, almost €90 million has been drawn down by local authorities under my Department’s two main capital programmes for the delivery of additional social housing units; details of this funding are as follows:

Furthermore, on 5 May I announced a major social housing construction programme with €312m investment. Projects are to be completed by 2017 and funding will be drawn down as required by local authorities as the projects are advanced by them. Details of this construction programme are available on my Department’s website at the following link: .

I will announce details shortly of the 2015 funding for local authorities to address vacant social housing stock, including the breakdown of the targets and funding for each authority. The following table shows the number of units returned to productive use in 2014 and the funding provided to local authorities by my Department for this work. My Department does not maintain ongoing records of the actions of individual local authorities in this area and the progress by Dublin City Council in dealing with vacant units is a matter for the local authority.

Successfully tackling the current homelessness issue demands that a higher priority be afforded to homeless households in the allocation of housing. Accordingly, I issued a Direction to a number of key housing authorities on 27 January 2015 to prioritise homeless and other vulnerable households. This Direction applies for six months, from 27 January 2015 to 26 July 2015. Under this Direction, each of the Dublin housing authorities must ensure that at least 50% of the dwellings available for allocation under Section 22 of the 2009 Act during the specified period will be allocated to such households that had qualified for social housing support on or before 1 December 2014. Data submitted by housing authorities in the Dublin Region indicated that a total of 597 units were allocated in the Dublin Region, under Section 22, in the three-month period, since the Direction was introduced of which approximately 38% were allocated to homeless and other vulnerable households.

I am making an additional €10.5 million of ‘Section 10’ funding available for homeless accommodation and services across the country in 2015. This is an increase in funding of over 20%, bringing the Exchequer contribution to €55.5 million. The 2015 regional allocations are currently being finalised with a view to their confirmation shortly. To date in 2015, my Department has recouped €12,528,889 in ‘Section 10’ funding to Dublin City Council.

South Dublin County Council has recently completed the purchase of a NAMA apartment block, as the preferred alternative to a hotel property, which will operate as an assessment centre for homeless families providing 65 units of accommodation. A service level agreement has been put in place with a provider and it is expected that this facility will be fully operational by June.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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967. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to outline the amount of money that has been allocated in 2015 to approved housing bodies; and if he will provide details of the proposed developments. [20534/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Funding to approved housing bodies is allocated on the basis of proposals they make in respect of social housing provision which have been approved by local authorities and my Department. These proposals must be viable, meet housing need and represent value for money.

Under my Department's Capital Assistance Scheme, approved housing bodies are already implementing projects for the construction and/or acquisition of social housing to meet the needs of people with special needs, which were approved in May 2014; details of those projects are available on my Department's website at the following link:.

Approved housing bodies were recently invited to submit further proposals under the Capital Assistance Scheme, in line with the increased targets set under the Social Housing Strategy. These proposals are now being assessed by my Department and project approvals, where appropriate, will be issued to the local authorities and approved housing bodies. This year over €70 million has been made available for the advancement of projects under the Capital Assistance Scheme, of which €5.5 million will be self-funded by certain local authorities through local property tax receipts.

Under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP), both local authorities and approved housing bodies can submit proposals for approval to my Department throughout the year. SHCEP is a national fund without individual local authority or approved housing body funding allocations.