Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1747. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of long-term social housing voids returned to stock by each local authority in each of the years 2014 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and the amount and source of the funding allocated to each local authority in each year to restore these units to use, in tabular form. [1095/18]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1748. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department distinguishes between social housing units that are vacant for a short period of time between tenants and those vacant for longer periods of time for the purposes of managing its social housing stock; and if so, the way in which this distinction is made. [1096/18]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1749. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the details of the average period that units refurbished under the local authority voids programme in each of the years 2014 to 2016 were vacant prior to their refurbishment, in tabular form. [1097/18]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1750. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of social housing units that received energy efficiency upgrades under the local authority voids programme in each of the years since 2014. [1098/18]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1751. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there is a minimum period that a social housing unit must be vacant before it is eligible for funding under the local authority voids programme since 2014. [1099/18]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1752. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the details of the types of refurbishment works that are typically funded under the local authority voids programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1100/18]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1753. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the function of the local authorities void programme, as distinct from local authorities own refurbishment works and if he will account for the way in which his Department defines additional support over and above that local authorities provide. [1101/18]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1754. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the eligibility criteria and application guidelines that are provided to local authorities seeking to make applications to the local authorities void programme. [1102/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1747 to 1754, inclusive, together.

Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966 provides that the management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including the implementation of planned maintenance programmes and carrying out of responsive repairs and pre-letting repairs, is a matter for each individual local authority. 

The Voids Programme, introduced in 2014 by my Department, provides additional support to local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-letting. The maximum funding provided for each unit under this programme is €30,000.  In addition, the Derelicts Programme provides funding to remediate more seriously derelict social houses.  There is also another smaller 2 into 1 programme, which focuses on converting vacant old bedsit type of accommodation into one bedroom units. 

Vacant social houses, which are categorised as voids, need far greater repairs that normal re-letting works to bring them to a suitable letting condition.  They are vacant pending this work.  The key objectives of the programme are to minimise the turnaround and re-let time of vacant units and return them to use in an energy efficient condition. 

Retrofitting is undertaken on properties selected by local authorities on the basis of unit cost, the extent of local housing need and the age/condition of the property.  The programme focuses on retrofitting of the fabric of the dwelling (insulation of walls/roofs, window/door replacement, heating system improvement etc.). During the period, 7,160  units had energy efficiency works recouped [1,850, 2,114, 1,770 and 1,426 for 2014 to 2017, respectively]. The remainder may have had works carried out previously under a separate Energy Efficiency programme.

Circulars issued to each local authority outlining the scheme and the information required for those authorities seeking to apply for funding under the scheme. No distinction is made between the length of time a property is vacant before being eligible for funding under the programmes and my Department does not collect data on the average period that a unit was vacant prior to their refurbishment. The scale of the pre-letting works required is a more relevant factor.

Given that amalgamated data across the 3 programmes is provided under Rebuilding Ireland, for consistency purposes, the combined voids data is presented below.

Voids Data 2014 to 2017: incorporating Voids, Derelicts and 2 into 1 Programmes

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1755. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 131,132 and 135 of 13 April 2017, the details of the 47,000 social housing units planned under Rebuilding Ireland, broken down by refurbishment, lease, acquisition and build; and if he will provide a detailed explanation as to the way in which his Department plans to monitor the delivery of each of these components, as well as the sources of data that it will be using to report on the progress towards these targets. [1103/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The initial target under Rebuilding Ireland was to deliver 47,000 social homes. However, following my review of these plans and with the overall funding provision increased from €5.35 billion to €6 billion, I have increased the  target to 50,000 social homes. I have also placed a greater emphasis on direct build activity by local authorities and approved housing bodies.

Within the revised 50,000 target, almost 33,500 will be delivered through build activity and some 6,500 delivered through acquisitions, with the remaining 10,000 delivered through long-term leasing initiatives, as set out in the following table.

The following table shows the elements of the build activity of almost 33,500 social homes, including those that will be built directly by local authorities and AHBs, as well as properties constructed for social housing through Part V and refurbished properties/Voids, together with some 6,500 acquisitions, over the period 2016 to 2021.

Since the publication of Rebuilding Ireland, the Government’s attention has been firmly focused on delivery.  Implementation of Rebuilding Ireland is being advanced across a number of Departments, under the oversight of the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, Housing and Climate Change, chaired by An Taoiseach.  Within my own Department, implementation is led by the Secretary General and other senior officials on an ongoing basis, supported by Working Group structures put in place under each of the Action Plan's five Pillars. In addition, to ensure broader consultation and engagement with delivery agents and stakeholders on implementation progress and emerging issues, an Oversight Group and a Project Board are in operation.

Following my recent review of Rebuilding Ireland, I announced that Minister of State Damien English will lead a new delivery team in my Department working with local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) on social housing delivery.  I am confident that this will further add to the impetus already in place for the delivery of much needed social housing homes, across the country, by local authorities and AHBs. 

This governance is additional to the ongoing contact my Department has with local authorities and AHBs around all forms of housing delivery, including regular technical meetings to review progress in respect of social housing projects.