Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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16. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the legislative changes he plans to implement to provide for the much needed massive increase in social and affordable housing in order to deal with the current housing crisis. [18461/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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A range of actions is currently being considered to provide for the much needed boosting of supply of all types of housing, including increasing the delivery of social housing, in the immediate, medium and longer-term. These actions, including possible legislative changes, will be brought forward in the context of the new “ Action Plan for Housing ” which will be published in the coming weeks.

A key objective of the Plan will be to accelerate, and exceed if possible, the delivery of the targets under the Social Housing Strategy:importantly, local authorities and approved housing bodies already have a strong pipeline of construction, turnkey and acquisition projects underway, which will deliver some 3,900 homes, with approved budget costs of some €680 million.

The most recent changes to legislation which impact on the delivery of social housing were a number of amendments made in 2015 to Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, which provides for the provision of social housing units from within private developments.

The amendments provide for Part V delivery of 10% of the total units in a scheme, with the priority being the delivery of social housing. Crucially, the options of a payment of cash in lieu of units, or the transfer of sites or parts of sites, have been removed. The focus is now on the delivery of completed units and the amendments seek to maximise the contribution Part V can make to social housing supply and sustainable mixed-tenure communities across the country. An increase in the overall supply of housing in the coming years will therefore yield a dividend for social housing under the provisions of Part V.

The operation of Part V is kept under review in my Department, in consultation with local authorities, and should further legislative changes be required, in the light of experience with the revised provisions, I will bring these forward.