John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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323. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government following the publication of his action plan for housing and homelessness four months ago, the status of the progress made to date on action 2.18 to develop policy options for supported housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35068/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department is working with the Department of Health and other key stakeholders to develop a policy position that will facilitate the greater use in Ireland of the model of "housing with supports" for older people. This accommodation model provides each person with their own premises and privacy, while facilitating social contact with other older people and in some cases providing homecare on site, and possibly access to nursing care, a security presence, etc. I expect to publish a policy paper on this topic in 2017.

As part of a cross-sectoral approach to developing this housing model for older people, the Dublin City Housing Working Group - which includes representatives from my Department, Dublin City Council, the Department of Health, the HSE and relevant NGOs - has developed a pilot project. The project has been included as one of the demonstration projects in Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing & Homelessness (under action number 2.16). It will comprise 50/60 self-contained units, for single people and couples, accommodatinga mix of people with varying support needs. It will have a team of support staff based on-site, as well as providing outreach services for people within a defined catchment area.

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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324. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government following the publication of his action plan for housing and homelessness four months ago, the status of the progress made to date on action 2.19 to create pilot competitions focusing on smart technologies, adaptation of existing housing and lifetime communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35069/16]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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In July 2016, the Government launched the Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness. Action 2.19 provided that we would create a pilot competition, focusing on three distinct areas, namely, smart technologies in housing for older people, adaptation of existing houses to meet the needs of older people and life-time communities.

My Department has established a Steering Group consisting of representatives from the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, the Construction Industry Federation, the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, Dublin City Council and Enterprise Ireland, to oversee the roll-out of the design challenge.

The Steering Group has already met twice in order to elaborate on the competition brief which aims to stimulate, and support collaboration among, the design, construction and technology sectors to be innovative in providing solutions for older people within our built environment. In this regard, the challenge will be inclusive of anyone with feasible and cost effective ideas which have potential for mainstreaming into the future.

To raise awareness of the competition and incentivise the professional, building and community sectors to make submissions, I announced, on 20 September 2016, that my Department is providing €100,000 prize money to support the Homes for Smart Ageing: Universal Design Challenge competition. The third meeting of the Steering Group will take place next week and it is intended that a call for proposals under the competition will be launched in December 2016.