Written answers

Wednesday, 20 April 2016

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Housing Provision

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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486. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of housing purchases or new housing starts approved by his Department in respect of County Kildare in the past 12 months, having regard to the rising extent of homelessness, rapidly increasing rents and the numbers on local authority housing waiting lists; if cognisance is being taken of the worsening situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7757/16]

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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While my Department provides funding to local authorities in respect of various capital projects for the construction and acquisition of social housing, it does not approve individual house purchases or new housing starts. In relation to projects my Department has approved, these follow on from the announcement I made in April last year of over €1.5 billion in funding allocations in respect of social housing to be provided by all local authorities via a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes. Those allocations and associated targets for each local authority, including Kildare, are available on my Department’s website at the following link: .

Following this notification of targets, I made announcements of substantial new social housing projects in May 2015, July 2015 and January 2016. Between these three announcements, almost €680 million has been allocated for over 3,900 social housing new builds, turnkey developments and acquisitions. Details of these project approvals, including those for Kildare, are available on my Department’s website at the following links:

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I am keen that all local authorities, including Kildare County Council, advance these projects as soon as possible and I have assured them that funding is available to fully support their efforts in this regard. While social housing construction projects are being advanced, acquisitions of new and second-hand houses and apartments remain an effective means of meeting immediate social housing need. In 2015, Kildare County Council secured the purchase of 79 housing units and to date this year, have completed the purchases of a further 25 additional units for social housing purposes. Some of these acquisitions, as well as some of the approved construction projects, were under the Capital Assistance Scheme whereby approved housing bodies (AHBs) deliver social housing for those with specific needs such as elderly people, persons with intellectual or physical disability and homeless persons. 

Under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP), my Department, together with local authorities, can support AHBs to construct, purchase or lease housing units and make them available for social housing. The housing units are secured under long-term leases/availability arrangements between local authorities, AHBs and private property owners. A total of 30 social housing units were delivered under the Programme in the administrative area of Kildare County Council in 2015. To date, a total of 157 units have received funding approval under the Programme and will be delivered in Kildare over the course of the next two years. 124 of these are new units that will be purchased by AHBs with assistance from the Department’s Capital Advance Leasing Facility and made available to Kildare County Council under long-term lease arrangements funded by SHCEP.

Information on all social housing outputs is published on my Department’s website at the following link: .

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