Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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2184. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to revise the guidelines for planning authorities on sustainable residential development in urban areas in view of the severity of the social housing crisis and very slow pace of delivery of local authority housing. [27309/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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My Department routinely monitors the planning process and acts to ensure it facilitates appropriate developments to meet the broader housing requirements of society.

My Department’s 2009 Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas encourage local authorities to bring about high quality and sustainable urban development, using their development planning and management functions to deliver quality homes and neighbourhoods where people want to live, work and raise families. In particular, the Guidelines outline a range of densities appropriate to different location types, from lower densities at the edges of smaller towns through to densities in the range of a minimum of 50 dwellings per hectare in larger urban areas along public transport corridors.  The Guidelines can be accessed through my Department's website at: .

Government policy, as set out in the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, is to deliver sustainable communities with an appropriate tenure mix for all our citizens, irrespective of the method of housing provision. Under Rebuilding Ireland, the target set out for social housing is to deliver 47,000 social housing units through build, refurbishment, acquisition and leasing over the period 2016 to 2021.  This is supported through a significantly increased investment programme of €5.35 billion.  A further €200 million is provided for the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund for investment in key enabling infrastructure to open up lands for early development.

While still at an early stage of implementation, there is already strong evidence that the focus on increasing and accelerating housing supply in Rebuilding Ireland is succeeding.  In 2016, the housing needs of over 19,000 households were met through a range of housing programmes, supported by expenditure of over €935 million.  A further €1.3 billion has been provided for 2017 to support the accelerated delivery of social housing and the achievement of the 2017 target to meet the housing needs of over 21,000 households.

I have recently published the latest Status Report on Social Housing Construction Projects, which is available at the following link: <>.  The report provides details of over 600 social housing projects, involving the construction of over 10,000 new social homes across the 31 local authority areas.  The scale of the construction pipeline, as at end-Quarter 1 2017, represents a major escalation in the social housing build programme and more projects are being added on an ongoing basis, to ensure full delivery on the Rebuilding Ireland targets.

I am confident that the Guidelines referred to support all of these projects and ensure that planning authorities have the necessary tools to support sustainable residential development in urban areas, while at the same time ensuring the level of delivery necessary to deliver the targets set out under Rebuilding Ireland.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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2185. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on whether an over-rigid application of planning principles is impeding delivery of much needed social housing (details supplied); and his plans to implement a review of the reasons local authorities used for rejecting properties offered by NAMA. [27310/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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To end Quarter 1 2017, the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) had identified 6,947 units, associated with the security for loans that NAMA has acquired, that could be made available for social housing. Many of these units were in unfinished housing developments or developments that required significant remediation work. All of the units identified by NAMA, regardless of their condition, location or circumstance were offered to local authorities in the first instance.

To date, demand has been confirmed by local authorities for 2,780 of the properties that NAMA has identified as potentially available. Local authorities have confirmed that 2,423 of the properties are considered unsuitable by reference to sustainable planning and housing policy, or are located in areas with no social housing demand. A further 1,744 properties have been sold or privately let by the owners or receivers since the initial offer was made to the local authority.

General information in relation to NAMA delivery for social housing is available on the website of the Housing Agency at the following link:

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In consultation with my Department, the Housing Agency and local authorities, NAMA continues to work through its portfolio with a view to identifying units that could be made available. The local authorities and the Housing Agency have been working systematically through the units with NAMA to determine if there is a social housing demand for the properties identified as potentially suitable for social housing. However, many of these units may be in private rented use and it is not appropriate or desirable that such private tenancies would be displaced.

Where a demand is identified by a local authority, this information is provided to NAMA and efforts are made to secure as many of the suitable properties as possible for social housing.