Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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34. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans for a policy to assist persons who are paying rent in excess of an average mortgage for a similar property but are unable to afford to buy due to deposit restrictions and an inability to save due to their high rent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24793/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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A range of measures are being taken under the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness to increase housing supply overall, with the aim of creating a functioning and sustainable housing system which can meet housing demand at more affordable prices.

The plan is divided into five pillars, with each targeting a specific area of the housing system.Pillar 3, entitled Build More Homes , has a key objective of increasing the output of private housing to meet demand at affordable prices.

Action 4.6 of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan provided for the introduction of an affordable rental scheme to enhance the capacity of the private rented sector to provide quality and affordable accommodation for households currently paying a disproportionate amount of disposable income on rent. As set out in the Strategy for the Rental Sector published in December 2016, the commitment on affordable rental is to be progressed through kick-starting supply in rent pressure zones. Lands held by local authorities in rent pressure zones are to be brought to market on a competitive tendering basis, with a view to leveraging the value of the land to deliver the optimum number of units for rent, targeting middle income households, in mixed tenure developments. The cost of providing rental units is to be permanently reduced by lowering the initial investment and development costs for providers - AHB or private - allowing the rental units to be made available at below market prices without the need for ongoing rental subsidies.

In this regard, an important policy intervention is the identification of State-owned lands for mixed tenure housing, particularly in the major urban areas, where demand is greatest. On 27 April 2017, I published details of some 2,000 hectares of land in public ownership, which has the potential to deliver up to 50,000 homes nationally. Full details of these sites can be accessed on the Rebuilding Ireland Housing Land Map at the following link: .

I have asked all local authorities to be innovative and proactive in developing these sites. The final model for each site will be the subject of careful consideration by the local authority concerned, the elected members included, who are best placed to know and provide for the housing need in their area. Indeed, the Dublin local authorities are well advanced in bringing large-scale sites forward for mixed tenure housing, with projects advertised that can deliver circa 3,000 mixed tenure homes in the Dublin City Council and South Dublin County Council areas alone.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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35. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the expected publication date for a new national vacant housing reuse strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24789/17]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Pillar 5 of the Government's Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is specifically focused on Utilising Existing Housing Stock, with a key objective of ensuring that the existing vacant housing stock throughout the country and across all forms of tenure, in both the public and private sectors, is used to the optimum degree possible. In this regard, Action 5.1 of Rebuilding Ireland commits to the development of a National Vacant Housing Re-Use Strategy, informed by Census 2016 data, to

- inform the compilation of a register of vacant units across the country,

- identify the number, location and reasons for longer-term vacancies (i.e. over 6 months) in high demand areas, and

- set out a range of actions to bring vacant units back into reuse.

To this end, the Housing Agency, which has lead responsibility for co-ordinating the development of the Strategy, established a working group comprising senior representatives from my Department, local authorities and from the Housing Agency itself to inform the Strategy. As the deliberations of Working Group were nearing completion, it was agreed to await publication last month of 2016 Census data on housing so as to ensure the Strategy would be informed by the most up-to-date and comprehensive data available.

It is now anticipated that the Strategy will be published in the coming weeks.