Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

627. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide, in tabular form, the social housing targets issued to local authorities by his Department for the period 2015 to 2017, detailing the total number of units to be delivered by each council and the breakdown of these units by construction and acquisition, social housing current expenditure programme and rental accommodation scheme; if he will provide the housing assistance payment targets for each relevant local authority for the period 2015 to 2017; and when those local authorities which do not currently have housing assistance payment targets will be provided wit these targets. [26147/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Social Housing Strategy 2020targets the 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.

Social housing targets have been set for each local authority out to 2017 and are available on my Department's website 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, support approved housing bodies to provide units via the Capital Assistance Scheme for special needs situations and support the return of vacant properties to productive 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.

The implementation of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a key Government priority and a major pillar of the Social Housing Strategy 2020. The HAP scheme will bring all social housing supports provided by the State under the aegis of local authorities. The scheme will remove a barrier to employment by allowing recipients to remain in the scheme if they gain full-time employment. HAP will also improve regulation of the rented accommodation being supported and provide certainty for landlords as regards their rental income.

Further to the enactment of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 on 28 July 2014, the first phase of the HAP statutory pilot commenced with effect from 15 September 2014 in Limerick City and County Council, Waterford City and County Council and Cork County Council. HAP commenced in Louth, Kilkenny, South Dublin and Monaghan County Councils from 1 October 2014. Subsequently, on 18 December 2014, Dublin City Council became part of the statutory HAP pilot, with a specific focus on accommodating homeless households. Dublin City Council is implementing the HAP pilot for homeless households in the Dublin region on behalf of all 4 Dublin local authorities.

The second phase of the HAP statutory pilot has recently commenced with the HAP scheme becoming operational in Donegal County Council on 25 May 2015, in Offaly County Council on the 15 June, 2015 and in Carlow, Clare and Tipperary County Councils and Cork City Council on 29 June 2015. Consideration is currently being given to the introduction of HAP to further local authorities on an incremental basis later this year. As the scheme is still in a pilot phase and is being rolled out incrementally, specific targets have not been set for each local authority area. However the provision of HAP in these additional local authorities will assist in achieving the 2015 HAP delivery target of 8, 400 households supported by the scheme, as set out in the Strategy.

The Social Housing Strategy 2020sets ambitious targets for the rollout of HAP across all local authorities. Specifically, the Strategy requires that all eligible households that require HAP will transition to the new scheme between 2014 and 2020. As such, all other local authorities will be included in further phases of the rollout of HAP.