Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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11. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which he has engaged directly with the various local authorities with a view to identifying the extent to which the various initiatives taken by the Government in respect of local authority housing are in the course of implementation; if, in view of the ever-increasing and urgent demand in respect of the number of applicants on local authority housing waiting lists and ongoing homelessness, he accepts the necessity for further measures to address the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28940/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Social housing is a key priority for the Government, evidenced by the additional €2.2 billion in funding announced in Budget 2015 and the publication of the Social Housing Strategy 2020in November 2014. The total targeted provision under the Strategy is 110,000 social housing units, which includes the delivery of 35,000 additional social housing units and the accommodation of up to 75,000 eligible low-income households primarily through the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme.

Targets for the delivery of units, under both the capital and current expenditure programmes, have been set for each local authority out to 2017. There has been significant engagement between my Department and local authorities in finalising these targets and that engagement is continuing as progress on delivery is achieved. Full details of the targets are available on my Department's website, the web link for which is as follows:

On 5 May last, I announced €312 million of funding for the first phase of a direct build local authority construction programme, which will result in an additional 1,700 social housing units by 2017.  Further announcements on the delivery of new social housing projects will be made in the coming weeks and months.

With regard to direct engagement with local authorities, I met personally with the Chief Executives of the local authorities as recently as this week to discuss progress on implementation of targets to date. In addition, my Department has undertaken a number of information workshops and seminars on the Social Housing Strategy with both officials and Elected Members of local authorities. A clear governance structure has been put in place for the Social Housing Strategy to drive delivery. I, along with my colleague Minister of State Paudie Coffey, co-chair the overall Oversight Group for the Strategy and there is active participation by senior officials from local authorities at all levels in the governance arrangements for the Strategy more generally.