Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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260. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the resources his Department has assigned for each of the past five years to assisting with developing a strategy to ensure the country has an adequate supply of social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14707/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In the period 2011 to 2014 inclusive, in excess of 26,000 social housing units were delivered under a range of programmes, by local authorities and approved housing bodies, with associated total funding of some €2.6bn being provided in that period, as set out in the following table.

Since then, through the actions set out in the Social Housing Strategy 2020, which was published in November 2014, a number of important measures have been taken to increase supply of social housing. The Strategy is available on my Department’s website at the following link:

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The Social Housing Strategy 2020provides 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.

Overall funding of €761.4 million was expended on the delivery of social housing services in 2015. This comprised €636.3 million Exchequer funding and €125.1 million which local authorities self-funded from Local Property Tax receipts. This funding facilitated the delivery of over 13,000 social housing units in 2015, the first full year of implementation of the Social Housing Strategy2020. This represents an 86% increase in unit delivery above 2014.

A full report on actions delivered under the Strategy in 2015 can be found in the Social Housing Output in 2015report. 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:.

With regard to funding provision for social housing services for 2016, the combined capital and current allocation will result in an Exchequer investment of almost €821 million across a range of housing programmes, being implemented by both local authorities and approved housing bodies. In addition, local authorities will self-fund a range of housing services from Local Property Tax receipts to the value of over €112 million , bringing the total social housing provision in 2016 to €933 million.

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.

My Department works closely with all local authorities in relation to their overall resource requirements, including staffing, to ensure their capacity and preparedness for delivery of the ambitious targets set under the Strategy. To this end, my Department has sanctioned 440 local authority posts in order to meet the goals of the Social Housing Strategy 2020.

Housing is an absolute priority for this Government, as evidenced by the Programme for a Partnership Government, which is available at the following link:-, which includes a commitment to the preparation and publication of an ‘Action Plan for Housing’. The Action Plan will be drafted with input from a number of key Departments, drawing also 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.

The Action Plan will come under the overall governance of a Cabinet Committee on Housing chaired by An Taoiseach and including all the key Ministers. The Action Plan will be delivery focused, and will include specific measures to increase and expedite the delivery of social housing units, building on the considerable work already carried out or underway in my Department. It will also include actions to boost supply of all types of housing in the immediate, medium and longer terms.