Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Government has enabled and facilitated the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) in playing an important role in the delivery of housing supply generally, and social housing in particular.  In Budget 2016, the Minister for Finance announced that NAMA, having carried out a review of residentially zoned sites under the control of its debtors and receivers, is aiming to fund the delivery of a target 20,000 additional new homes before the end of 2020. The commercial activity of NAMA and future plans in that regard are matters for NAMA and the Minister for Finance.

In the context of social housing delivery, NAMA has had ongoing engagement, since December 2011, with my Department and the Housing Agency in identifying properties that might potentially be suitable for social housing purposes. To the end of September 2015, a total of 1,600 NAMA residential properties have been delivered for social housing use, comprising 1,241 completed properties and a further 359 that have been contracted and where completion work is on-going.

In the context of Meath County Council 235 properties were initially identified for possible social housing use with a demand confirmed by the Council for 63 of these. To date 11 units have completed with contracts signed for a further 18 units.