Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

113. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the extent to which he continues to monitor the growing housing need against the progress by the various local authorities towards meeting this need in the current year in view of the pressing circumstances of individual applicants all over the country and the need to meet their requirements in the short rather than long term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2316/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In line with the commitment under Social Housing Strategy 2020, statutory summaries of social housing assessments will be carried out on an annual basis from 2016, rather than every three years as was done in the past. These regular summaries will provide up-to-date and comprehensive data on the numbers of households qualified for social housing support on an on-going basis. The results of the most recent Summary, carried out on 21 September 2016, were published last month and show that there were 91,600 households on local authority housing waiting lists at this date. This figure represents an increase of 1,728 households, or 1.9%, on the 89,872 households recorded in the last summary which was carried out in May 2013. The results of the 2016 Summary are available on my Department’s website at:

.

Rebuilding Ireland – An Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, published in July 2016, sets out the Government’s approach to addressing the current challenges in the housing sector. Delivering on the ambitious targets set out in Rebuilding Ireland, including the commitment to deliver an additional 47,000 social housing units by 2021 and an accelerated roll-out of the Housing Assistance Payment over the same period, will address the needs of households on waiting lists. The 2016 Summary results will be used this year to inform the setting by my Department of social housing targets on a county by county basis for the period covered by the Action Plan.

Implementation of the Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness is being advanced across a number of Departments, under the oversight of the Cabinet Committee on Housing, chaired by An Taoiseach.  Within my own Department, an Implementation Board of senior officials, chaired by the Secretary General, monitors progress on a fortnightly basis.  In addition, Project Working Group structures for each of the Action Plan’s five Pillars will ensure that any operational considerations relating to the delivery of actions are identified early and resolved quickly and effectively.

Rebuilding Ireland contains a clear commitment to reporting regular progress, particularly through quarterly progress reports.  The First Quarterly Progress Report on the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness – Rebuilding Ireland (in respect of Quarter 3 2016 commitments and actions), which was published on 1 November, can be accessed at .

Further progress reports will follow on a quarterly basis, and will focus on the actions due to be progressed or completed in the preceding quarter. The next report is due to be published in the coming weeks.