Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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130. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to set down the number of houses built by Galway City Council and Galway County Council in 2016 to add to their social housing stock; the number of houses purchased by them in 2016 to add to their social housing stock; the number and location of houses that will be built and completed by them in 2017 and 2018 to add to their social housing stock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2348/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Funding is provided to local authorities under my Department’s Social Housing Capital Investment programme, to deliver additional social housing stock through new construction projects and through the acquisition of new and previously owned houses/apartments. There are also a range of funding and delivery mechanisms available to local authorities to deliver social housing in partnership with Approved Housing Bodies. These include the Capital Assistance Scheme and current-funded programmes, such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme, Housing Assistance Payment and various leasing arrangements under my Department’s Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme.

Details on the number of properties constructed, purchased and leased by all local authorities, including Galway City and Galway County Councils, for letting to those on their social housing waiting lists are available on my Department’s website at the following link: . Information on quarter four of 2016 is currently being finalised and will be published shortly.

Arising from the Social Housing Strategy, targets and provisional funding allocation were notified to each local authority, including Galway City and Galway County Councils. These are available on my Department’s website at the following link: . The Galway authorities have a target of 1,126 social housing units for the period out to 2017, supported by an allocation of €58.5m, to be invested in a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes.

Since then, both local authorities have made proposals to my Department in relation to a range of delivery projects and approvals have been issued. Projects to construct new local authority social housing given funding approval by my Department, as well as approved sheltered housing project proposals by AHBs, are set out in project approval announcements made in May 2015, July 2015 and January 2016, which can be seen at the following links:

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Subsequent to these announcements, two further such social housing projects have been approved for construction by Galway County Council as follows -

The Galway local authorities have also been collaborating with a number of AHBs to deliver additional social housing through the CALF (Capital Advance Leasing Facility) scheme. In 2016, there were 15 new social homes delivered in this way and a healthy pipeline for future delivery is in place with approvals made for the acquisition of a further 204 units across 9 projects by AHBs. A further 53 units were secured under long-term leasing arrangements supported through the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme. An additional 381 households were supported by HAP in Galway County Council with 336 households being supported in Galway City at the end of 2016.

During 2016, I also provided over €1.2 million to the Galway local authorities to purchase new and previously owned houses and apartments for use as social housing units. These approaches are delivering early social housing solutions for people on the waiting lists, while the Councils’ construction programme ramps up.