Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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787. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to report on the barriers to local authorities beginning immediate large-scale builds of social and affordable housing estates in areas of highest demand; how he is addressing these barriers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6901/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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The Social Housing Strategy 2020 includes targets and actions to increase the supply of social housing by 110,000 additional units, with 35,000 new units to be delivered by local authorities and approved housing bodies and 75,000 households to be supported mainly through the Housing Assistance Payment Scheme.

The Strategy has put in place the means to overcome barriers that might have existed in relation to the large scale delivery of social housing by local authorities. For example, implementation of the Strategy is being supported through the provision of €4 billion in funding and the sanctioning of more than 450 new housing staff for local authorities. The funding of €1.7 billion already provided for under Budgets 2015 and 2016 has supported the delivery of 13,000 social housing units in 2015 and is supporting the achievement of an ambitious target of 17,000 units in 2016. The 2015 output represents an increase of 86% on the circa 7,000 units delivered in 2014, as can be seen in my Department’s 2015 Social Housing Report which I published on 26 January 2016 – available at the following link:

The funding available under the Strategy has facilitated substantial new social housing projects which I announced in May 2015, in July 2015 and in January 2016. These projects are in areas with a proven social housing need and we now have a strong pipeline of new social housing construction, acquisition and turnkey approvals in place. It is important that all social housing construction that has been sanctioned is implemented in line with my Department’s guidelines, Quality Housing for SustainableCommunities. Those Guidelines state that site selection for social housing and the size of developments relative to other housing in an area are important to the future development of self-sustaining communities.

Between the three major announcements on new social housing projects that I have made, almost €680 million has been allocated for over 3,900 social housing new builds and acquisitions. It is these projects that will form the vast majority of the social housing units to be constructed between now and 2018. All of these projects are now being advanced by the relevant local authorities. In some cases, they will need to proceed through the local authority planning process under Part VIII of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended. This and other factors can have an impact on the timeline for the advancement of construction projects. Details of these approvals are available on my Department’s website at the following links:

Delivery of new social housing is also being advanced via my Department’s Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP). This is funding both local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) to expand their social housing stock by leasing new units directly from private owners and developers for social housing use. The programme also allows for the long-term leasing of units secured by AHBs through acquisition and construction.

The Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) assists AHBs in accessing private or Housing Finance Agency (HFA) finance for the purchase, construction or refurbishment of units for social housing purposes. Amendments were made to the scheme recently to further facilitate a shift in investment by AHBs towards construction and acquisition of new builds. Effective from 1 January 2016, AHBs can drawdown approved CALF funds at an earlier stage in a project’s completion. This accelerated drawdown provides working capital to the AHB and delays the drawdown of more expensive bridging finance, in the early stages of construction projects. In addition, a mechanism is also being introduced that will allow for the agreement of two-year multi-annual CALF funding programmes with AHBs. The objective is to provide more certainty to AHBs with regard to their funding requirements. This initiative will operate on a pilot basis with five AHBs in 2016 with the objective of broadening the initiative in 2017.

While construction activity is ramping up, local authorities are using other approaches to deliver new social housing units in the more immediate term, including acquiring properties - with over 1,000 new social housing units acquired through that approach in 2015 alone - and working with developers to build and acquire new Turnkey developments. The Rapid Build Housing Programme will also provide solutions, in the shortest possible time-frame, to support families who find themselves in emergency accommodation. The houses in question are high quality, A-rated homes, which, if delivered on a sufficient scale, offer real hope for people in the immediate term.

Overall, through the range of actions that have been implemented under the Social Housing Strategy and the funding provision that has been made, local authorities have been empowered to deliver social housing in the areas of highest demand, consistent with the important, long-term objective of developing and supporting sustainable communities.