Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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1730. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of social and voluntary housing units allocated by Louth County Council under the various methods of delivery in 2017; the number of units expected to be allocated by the local authority; the location of the projects currently planned and-or under construction in 2018 and 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54780/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The allocation of social housing supports to qualified households is a matter for the local authority concerned, in accordance with its allocation scheme made in accordance with section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated Regulations.

Through the supports made available under Rebuilding Ireland, funding is available to all local authorities to deliver additional social housing stock through new construction projects and through the acquisition of new and previously owned houses/apartments for social housing use, including through working with approved housing bodies.

Provisional details on the number of properties nationally purchased and built in all local authority areas, for letting to those on the social housing waiting lists in 2017, are available on my Department’s website at the following links:

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My Department and I are in regular contact with all local authorities, including Louth County Council, in order to accelerate and progress the social housing delivery programme. In relation to social housing construction activity in general, my Department publishes status reports on a quarterly basis, of social housing construction schemes for all local authority areas, showing details such as their locations and a range of information relating to their advancement.

The most recent of these reports covers the period up to the end of quarter 3 of 2017. It includes information on the delivery of over 12,000 new social housing homes, which are currently approved and progressing through planning, design, and construction, or have been completed in 2016 and to the end of quarter 3 of 2017. The report can be accessed at the following link:

In the case of Louth County Council, the report includes details of some 37 construction schemes which are at various stages of advancement and which will yield in the region of 570 units, once completed. It will be these and other schemes that are brought forward that will form the basis for social housing construction delivery in Louth under Rebuilding Ireland to 2021. The precise timing for the advancement of each of these projects, including completion dates and tenanting, is a matter for Louth County Council and the approved housing bodies concerned, in the first instance. I can assure you that my Department will continue to engage actively with all local authorities, including Louth County Council, to deliver social housing through all available avenues, with a particular emphasis on additional construction projects.