Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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651. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the funding allocated in April 2015 to County Westmeath over three years to buy, rent or lease properties for social purposes; the progress of these plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46225/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Under the Social Housing Strategy, there are substantial targets and funding resources for the delivery of social housing by local authorities, including Westmeath County Council. In April 2015, I issued social housing targets and provisional funding allocations to all local authorities to be invested in a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes designed to accommodate 25% of those currently on the housing waiting lists. The following are the targets in respect of Westmeath, which are supported by a funding allocation of €30.7 million:

As the housing authority for their areas, local authorities are responsible for the detailed planning of social housing provision based on local need. This includes working with approved housing bodies to assist in meeting the needs of those on the social housing waiting list in their administrative areas. However, I said when I allocated the targets and funding that all local authorities will be expected to kick-start a building programme. In that regard, I have announced new social housing construction and acquisition projects to the value of approximately €500 million so far this year, including 43 new units for County Westmeath at a cost estimate of almost €7 million. Details are available on my Department’s website at the following links: and .

Given the timelag between approval and delivery in terms of construction projects, a successful programme to remediate vacant units, as well as the acquisition by local authorities of properties through turn-key developments and other purchases, are important parts of social housing delivery this year. In this regard, Westmeath County Council has programmed 20 to 30 new acquisitions this year, while I am providing funding support to the Council to return over 80 vacant social housing units to productive use. The projects and programmes to deliver new social housing are being advanced strongly by local authorities.

Under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) units can be delivered in a variety of ways and local authorities are encouraged to explore and use all of these mechanisms, which include units purchased, leased or constructed by approved housing bodies and both multi-unit developments and individual units leased or acquired through rental arrangements directly by local authorities.  Units leased by local authorities or approved housing bodies can be for up to 20 years.  The accommodation provided is made available to persons on local authority waiting lists, persons with long term housing needs in receipt of rent supplement or persons who are homeless.

The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is a social housing support introduced to cater for the accommodation needs of persons who are in receipt of long term rent supplement. Persons normally must be in receipt of continuous rent supplement for a minimum period of 18 months, and be assessed as having a long term housing need.

The targets for Westmeath County Council for the period 2015-2017 are set out in the table above. Together, the RAS and SHCEP Schemes have met the social housing needs of an additional 153 households in Westmeath County Council in 2015, which is well in excess of the original targets set for the local authority.

I am confident that by utilising all delivery mechanisms under these programmes, local authorities will continue to deliver on their social housing targets in line with the Social Housing Strategy.