Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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14. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on the fact that a large proportion of the social housing solutions promised in the Rebuilding Ireland plan will come under housing support schemes, rather than consisting of new builds; if his Department has carried out any analysis on the longer term implications of this on the housing sector and on security of tenure for tenants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9021/17]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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16. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on whether the Rebuilding Ireland plan relies too heavily on the private sector for the delivery of social housing; his plans to empower local authorities to significantly increase their capacity for building social housing units; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9022/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 16 together.

As pointed out in response to earlier Questions, Rebuilding Ireland is fundamentally based on blended delivery of social housing and harnessing the highest quality social housing possible given the capacity of local authorities, the private market and the financial resources available to Government.

A range of delivery mechanisms are operating in parallel. I recently published the first Status Report on Social Housing Construction Projects which shows a strong pipeline of direct construction projects that will contribute to the delivery of 26,000 new homes by 2021, and the 11,000 existing units that will bought directly from the market either at scale, using the Housing Agency’s purchase of property portfolios, or at local level by local authorities and approved housing bodies. It is the intention to update progress on the schemes on a quarterly basis.

The capacity of the private market is also being harnessed by maximising the Part V requirements on new residential developments; bringing privately owned vacant units back into productive use for social housing using the new Repair and Leasing and Buy and Renew Schemes; and harnessing the private investment interest in long-term leases or other contractual arrangements with local authorities for the supply of high quality social housing.

Rebuilding Ireland also sets out an ambitious set of targets for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), which supports households who wish to live in high quality rented accommodation with the security of knowing that their HAP support will continue even if their household income increases. While the level of supply in the rental market is challenging, 300 new tenancies per week have been supported by HAP so far this year and 18,250 households in total are currently supported under the scheme.

A number of financial and economic studies carried out either during the development of the original schemes or subsequently have supported the rationale for the provision of social housing through mechanisms such as the leasing and renting of privately owned accommodation.

I continue to keep all of the social housing delivery mechanisms under review to ensure that they remain relevant and are responding effectively to housing needs while also ensuring value for money.