Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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2235. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the steps he is taking to assist councils with lengthy social housing waiting lists in counties Cavan and Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28273/17]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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2236. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to allocate or build additional housing for county councils in counties Cavan and Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28274/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2235 and 2236 together.

Rebuilding Ireland has put in place both the targets and the funding resources to accelerate the delivery of social housing for all local authorities, including Cavan and Monaghan County Councils. There are currently over 600 social housing construction projects included in the Status Report on Social Housing Construction Projects, which is now published on a quarterly basis and includes projects that are recently completed, on site, or undergoing planning and design. This list is being added to on an ongoing basis and the most recent version, covering the period to end Quarter 1 of 2017, is available at the following link: .

The Status Report includes 16 construction projects of various scale in Counties Cavan and Monaghan, involving 226 new social homes, one of which was completed in Quarter 4 of 2016 and four others that are currently on site.

In tandem with the construction programme, all local authorities have been undertaking the targeted acquisition of properties and since January 2016,  my Department has provided almost €10 million to Cavan and Monaghan County Councils for this purpose, through which the two Councils have secured over 70 new properties for social housing use.  The Councils have also availed of funding from my Department to return vacant social housing to use. In the period 2014-16, the Councils refurbished 157 social homes with an exchequer investment of nearly €1.5 million and a further 25 social homes are to be refurbished in 2017. 

Other social housing supports available to local authorities to meet the needs of households include the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), with both schemes operating well in Monaghan and Cavan. Monaghan was one of the first local authorities to commence HAP; since 1 October 2014, a total of 451 households have been supported. In Cavan, HAP commenced on 1 December 2016; to date, 56 households have been supported to find accommodation to meet their needs through this scheme. 

Under my Department’s Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme, currently Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) are managing 39 leased social homes in Cavan and 9 in Monaghan. There are also approvals in place with 3 AHBs, for 71 new social homes in Monaghan. As with all local authorities, I would encourage both Cavan and Monaghan County Councils to work constructively with the range of local and national AHBs that operate in their counties. 

I am keen that both local authorities bring forward and advance projects as speedily as possible and they have been assured that funding is in place to support their activity in this regard.