Written answers

Thursday, 16 July 2015

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Social and Affordable Housing Provision

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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782. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an estimate, based on the current average annual cost, of the cost per unit of renting social housing for 40 years under the rent supplement scheme, the housing assistance payment, the rental accommodation scheme, and longer-term leasing, for example, the social housing leasing initiative. [30397/15]

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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784. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an annual breakdown by scheme of all payments made by his Department to private landlords for the years 2008 to 2014 and to date in 2015. [30399/15]

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 782 and 784 together.

The Social Housing Strategy sets a target of providing 110,000 social housing units over the 6 year period of the strategy. This includes the delivery of 35,000 units, through traditional build programmes and through the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP), while a further 75,000 households will have their needs met through the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and Rental Accommodation (RAS) schemes. The operation of the rent supplement scheme is a matter for the Department of Social Protection and questions in relation to that scheme should be directed to my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection.

It is not possible to give an accurate costing over 40 years for social housing units provided for under the SHCEP, HAP or RAS programmes. The value of a lease or rental accommodation agreement is calculated over the period of the agreement. Each scheme has differing contractual arrangements, the details of which reflect where responsibility for management and maintenance for the individual unit lies. Furthermore, my Department does not make payments directly to individual landlords in any arrangement within these schemes.

There are currently 6,173 units operational under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP), formerly the social housing leasing initiative.  Over the course of the Social Housing Strategy it is envisaged that some 11,000 new social housing units will be delivered through this programme. The average cost of an individual unit varies, depending on the manner in which it is provided under SHCEP. For example standard leasing units provided by local authorities or approved housing bodies (i.e. those leased from a private owner including NAMA’s Special Purpose Vehicle) will have a reduction of at least 20% on the market rent while units purchased or constructed by voluntary housing bodies will have a 5% to 8% reduction.  Notwithstanding this, at the end of May 2015, the average monthly cost for all SHCEP units (excluding unsold affordable units) was €610, or €7,320 per annum.

Payments made to local authorities under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme cover not just the cost of lease agreements made by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHB’s) with private owners, but also the cost of units constructed and purchased by AHB’s under the scheme and unsold affordable units made available for social housing use. In addition, administration costs, deposits on newly acquired accommodation and capital advances to AHB’s are included in this expenditure.

Since the inception of the Leasing Initiative in 2009, expenditure up to the end of 2014 has totalled € 119.4 million. To end June 2015, expenditure in 2015 totals some €7.1m.

The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) has seen some 50,000 households transferring from rent supplement to RAS since it began operation. The following table sets out the annual cost of RAS and transfer numbers achieved to end April 2015 -

Year Annual Expenditure Annual No. of Transfers
2008
€53,025,430
6,915
2009
€83,394,513
6,802
2010
€100,076,430
6,609
2011
€115,917,365
6,337
2012
€125,429,966
5,451
2013
€130,886,608
4,701
2014
€133,512,889
3,846
2015 (end April)
€33,157,493
1,035
Recoupment made to local authorities under RAS covers not only the contracted rents due to private landlords but also payments that are made to Voluntary Housing Bodies, administration costs, deposits on newly acquired accommodation and payments made in respect of additional units supplied under the Social Partnership Agreement Towards 2016.

The implementation of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Scheme is a key Government priority. Under the Social Housing Strategy some 8,400 households are to be supported by HAP by the end of the year, with some 70,000 households to be supported by the scheme at the end of the 6 year strategy period.

Following the enactment of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 in July 2014, HAP commenced initially in 7 pilot local authority areas in September and October 2014. At the end of 2014, 485 households were in receipt of a HAP payment. Expenditure in relation to HAP in 2014 amounted to just under €394,000. These costs related primarily to the cost of HAP payments to landlords, the administration costs of local authorities and the funding of information material on the scheme for dissemination to prospective landlords and tenants.

An Exchequer allocation of €23.2 million has been made for the HAP scheme in 2015 to meet the cost of, primarily, payment to landlords in respect of an additional 8,400 HAP recipients, as well as the on-going funding commitment associated with the 485 households in receipt of HAP at the end of 2014. This allocation will also meet the on-going administration costs of local authorities. The HAP scheme is now available to all categories of households in 13 local authority areas. Dublin City Council is also implementing a HAP pilot for homeless households in the Dublin region on behalf of all 4 Dublin local authorities. There are currently more than 2,600 households being supported by HAP at an average monthly rent of €510. Payments are made directly to landlords by the transactional shared services hub provided by Limerick City and County Council. At the end of June 2015, payments amounting to €3.27 million have been made to landlords on behalf of households supported by HAP.

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