Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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135. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider supporting an amendment to the Finance Act to introduce a capital exemption to persons who lease their properties to councils or approved housing bodies on a long-term lease as a method of incentivising landlords to rent to persons on the housing list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34392/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I presume the Deputy is suggesting that property owners who lease their property to councils or housing bodies should, on later disposal of the property, have gains attributable to the period during which the property was so leased relieved. I have no plans to introduce such a relief in this Finance Bill.

In any case, I am not convinced that such a relief is the most appropriate way to support the provision of social housing. I can assure the Deputy that the Government takes the issue of housing provision extremely seriously and a number of measures are in place to address it.

Under the previous Government a number of measures were introduced to support the provision of social housing services. The Social Housing Strategy 2020 launched in November 2014 sets out to address issues of social housing provision as well as accessibility and affordability. The Strategy aims to provide more than 35,600 new homes to meet social housing needs by 2020.

As part of the Rent Stability, Housing Supply package, the previous government introduced a tax relief scheme to incentivise landlords to facilitate social housing tenancies. The scheme provides landlords with a 100% interest deduction for property let for a minimum of three years to a tenant in receipt of social housing supports.

The new Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness complements and builds upon the Social Housing Strategy increasing the targeted level of social housing delivery to 47,000 units by 2021, supported by an investment of €5.35 billion.

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) are also currently examining the feasibility of establishing a new funding vehicle, in conjunction with the private sector, that is capable of funding the delivery of new mixed-tenure residential developments, with a strong focus on social housing, in a way that is both off-balance sheet and is commercially viable.