Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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564. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of funding allocated to Mayo County Council for housing construction and acquisition between 2011 and 2014; the amount that has been paid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42549/15]

Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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589. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to address the need for social housing in County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42895/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 564 and 589 together.

My Department provides capital funding to local authorities to increase their supply of social housing stock through the construction and acquisition of houses and apartments. This is one of the methods for the delivery of social housing by both local authorities and by approved housing bodies and significant housing delivery is also achieved through a range of other programmes supported by my Department.

The Exchequer funding drawn down by Mayo County Council in the delivery of new social housing units through both the local authority housing programme and the Capital Assistance Scheme between 2011 and 2014 is outlined in the following table:

Allocations are not always issued to the authorities under these programmes as they are largely demand-led. In relation to future social housing in County Mayo, targets and provisional funding allocations for delivery under my Department’s main capital and current programmes were issued to all local authorities, including Mayo County Council, in April this year. These targets were issued in the context of the Social Housing Strategy 2020, which provides a comprehensive response to the need for social housing and targets the provision of over 110,000 social housing units to 2020, 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.

The targets are for the period out to 2017 and the available funding is being invested in a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes by the local authorities designed to accommodate 25% of those currently on the housing waiting lists. Mayo County ha s a target of 566 units, supported by € 30.3 m of investment, broken down as follows:

The detailed implementation of the programmes and projects to deliver on targets is a matter for each individual local authority, but I am confident that good progress is being made in their achievement. When the targets were announced, it was indicated that the funding would support the refurbishment of vacant social housing units and support local authorities in both building and acquiring housing. Subsequently, I announced new social housing construction projects to the value of approximately half a billion euros, including 39 new units for Mayo at a cost estimate of €7.2 million. Details are available on my Department’s website at the following links: