Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the extent to which he expects revised planning procedures and protocols to facilitate an acceleration of house building in both the public and private sectors; if a reduction in house prices may accrue therefrom; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35421/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The main purpose of the recently published Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016 is to give early effect to a number of priority legislative commitments in the Government’s Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, including those relating to Pillar 3 which is about building more homes and making the planning permitting and approvals systems more efficient. In this regard, two key measures in the Bill propose:

the introduction of temporary fast-track planning arrangements whereby planning applications for large-scale housing developments (100+ units), including student accommodation developments (200+ units), will be made directly to An Bord Pleanála and determined within the specified maximum timeframe of 25 weeks; and

the streamlining of timelines, to a maximum of 20 weeks, for presenting and considering local authority own development proposals, including social housing proposals, through the Part 8 process.

Both of these streamlining measures, in respect of large housing developments and local authority own developments proposals, are intended to provide greater certainty in respect of the timelines for the progression of such housing developments, thereby facilitating the earlier provision of increased housing supply and helping to address the current housing supply shortage situation.

It is estimated that, from the aggregation of factors arising from measures already taken to reduce housing input costs, including the package of interim measures on housing supply, entitled Stabilising Rents – Boosting Supply which wasapproved by the Government in November 2015, a decrease in the cost of building new residential units by between €20,000 and €40,000 can be achieved, depending on whether apartments or houses are being constructed. Among the main contributing factors are:

implementation of new apartment guidelines, Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments - Guidelines for Planning Authorities published in December 2015;

reforms to the Part V process;

reductions in development contributions and a targeted development contribution rebate scheme in Dublin and Cork to encourage large-scale developments at affordable prices; and

the establishment of the new €200m Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF).

It is also expected that the additional planning related measures in the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016, in combination with the above measures and those outlined in the Action Plan, will help to activate housing development, increase the supply of new homes and in turn have a further positive impact on house prices.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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88. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if, in conjunction with the Dublin homeless executive and relevant local authorities, his Department will initiate a review of the practice of requiring households presenting as homeless to self-accommodate. [35440/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. In accordance with section 37(2) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless services, including accommodation, rests with individual housing authorities. The matter raised in the Question is an operational matter for housing authorities within their statutory function and I have no plans at present to initiate such a review.