Written answers

Tuesday, 24 May 2016

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Social and Affordable Housing

Photo of Jim DalyJim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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205. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his role in ensuring an adequate supply of social housing is available to approved social housing applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11798/16]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Housing is an absolute priority for this Government and, accordingly, a key priority of the Programme for a Partnership Government, which can be accessed at the link below, is the preparation and publication of an ‘Action Plan for Housing’ within the Government’s first 100 days. The Action Plan will be drafted with input from a number of key Departments, and will draw on the work of the Special Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness, which is due to submit a final report to the Dáil on 17 June 2016. for_Partnership_Government.pdf.

With regard to the delivery of social housing, the ‘Action Plan for Housing’ will build on the momentum achieved to date under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 (November 2014),which provides for clear, measurable actions and targets to increase the supply of social housing, reform delivery arrangements and meet the housing needs of all households on the housing list with flexibility to meet future demand. In total, 110,000 new social housing units are targeted for delivery 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 Social Housing Strategy 2020 is available on my Department’s website at the following link:

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The Strategy has been supported with funding of €1.7 billion under Budgets 2015 and 2016 providing for the delivery of 13,000 social housing units in 2015, representing an increase of 86% on the circa 7,000 units delivered in 2014. The target for 2016 is 17,000 units and I am committed to meeting that target and my ambition is to exceed it, if possible.

Importantly, with capital project announcements in May and July 2015, and in January 2016, local authorities and approved housing bodies now have a strong pipeline of construction, turnkey and acquisition projects, which will deliver some 3,900 homes, with approved budget costs of some €680 million.

A full report on actions delivered under the Strategy in 2015 can be found in the Social Housing Output in 2015 report. The report, which was published on 26 January 2016, in collaboration with the Housing Agency, is available on my Department’s website at the following link:

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Additional data on the breakdown of output, across all social housing delivery programmes, by local authority in 2015, is available on my Department’s website at the following link: .

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