Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

548. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount of land owned and available for housing for each approved housing body; his views on the total land available; when houses will be built on these lands; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28804/18]

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

549. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount of available land owned by each local authority suitable for housing purposes in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28805/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 548 and 549 together.

Developing the State land bank for housing is a key priority for this Government. Importantly, we have large sites in Dublin, Cork and other key urban areas where housing and homelessness pressures are greatest. We now have a very good picture of all local authority residential lands and authorities have well developed plans for many of their sites. Details of some 1,700 hectares of residential land in local authority and Housing Agency ownership are available to view and access on the Rebuilding Ireland Housing Land Map, at the following link:

.

My Department does not hold data on lands owned by Approved Housing Bodies (AHB). The oversight of AHBs is currently conducted through the Voluntary Regulation Code (VRC), Building for the Future, A Voluntary Regulation Code for Approved Housing Bodies in Ireland, which is available at the following link:.

At present, 245 AHBs are signed up to the VRC which is overseen by the Interim Regulation Committee (IRC), based in the Housing Agency. While annual regulatory returns for the AHBs which are signed up to the Code are submitted to the Housing Agency's Regulation Office, I understand that the Regulation Office does not, as a matter of course, collect detailed data on the land owned by AHBs.

In terms of housing delivery, backed by €6 billion in Exchequer funding, significant progress is being made in ramping up the social housing programme. At the end of 2017, there were 13,400 social housing homes in the construction programme, up substantially on the 8,500 homes in the programme just a year earlier, and this continues to grow on a weekly basis.

In addition, Dublin local authorities are bringing forward major sites for mixed-tenure development such as the 900 homes at Kilcarbery in Clondalkin, where procurement will be finalised in the Autumn, and O’Devaney Gardens, a 600-home site in the City Council area where the procurement process is moving into competitive dialogue stage and should be finalised in early 2019. Proposals for other key sites across Dublin are also being developed.

I have commenced the statutory provisions for the new affordable purchase scheme. Early indications from the key local authorities identified lands for 4,000 affordable homes and we are working to identify suitable lands through which the ambition can be increased to 10,000 homes. In order to support local authorities to get their sites ready for affordable housing, I have also issued the call for proposals under the €75 million Serviced Sites Fund for enabling infrastructure on local authority land for the facilitation of affordable housing.

The development of the local authority land bank for social and affordable housing will be a key theme at the Third Housing Summit with Local Authority Chief Executives taking place today.