Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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12. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the extent to which the housing needs as reflected in the waiting lists of the various local authorities are being met in line with requirements; the extent to which waiting lists have been reduced; if adequate provision in terms of emergency housing accommodation has become available or is becoming available; if he envisages the need for an emergency housing plan whereby rapid build housing techniques are employed with particular reference to the need to achieve targets in line with the urgency of the situation in early date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2134/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The results of the statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments carried out in 2016 were published last month and show that there were 91,600 households on local authority housing waiting lists as at 21 September 2016. 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.

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.

Rebuilding Irelandalso aims to address the unacceptable level of homeless families and persons in long-term emergency accommodation through the implementation of a range of measures, including the rapid-delivery housing programme.

It is important to note that rapid delivery housing needs to be viewed in the context of the wider range of solutions to address the high number of families currently being housed in emergency accommodation. These include the Housing Agency Programme to acquire 1,600 vacant units and the expanded HAP Homeless Pilot Scheme in Dublin, under which the target of 550 tenancies for 2016 was exceeded and a further 1,200 tenancies are targeted for 2017 across the greater Dublin region. While confirmed details are awaited from local authorities, it can be expected that at least 2,700 exits from homelessness will be achieved nationally in 2016, compared with 2,322 in 2015.