Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

703. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of houses leased by local authorities by local authority in each of the years 2014 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in tabular form; the overall cost of those leases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43908/18]

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

The Government has set out an ambitious set of targets for the delivery of social housing in the period to 2021 in its Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan. A commitment to deliver 50,000 new social housing homes through a range of delivery mechanisms is being supported by a multi-annual Exchequer commitment totalling €6.5 billion over the period of the plan. These targets will be achieved using a combination of building, purchasing and leasing high quality properties to meet the needs of households on local authority waiting lists around the country.

Of the 50,000 social housing homes to be delivered under Rebuilding Ireland, 10,000 will be leased by local authorities and approved housing bodies under leasing arrangements from a range of different sources.

Data on social housing leasing, funded by my Department, in respect of all local authorities from 2016 to end Q2 2018 is published on my Department’s website at the following link: .Data in respect of Q3 2018 is currently being collated and will be available shortly. Details in relation to Leasing output for 2014 and 2015 are set out in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Leasing Output 2014 and 2015, by Local Authority

The SHCEP budget funds the ongoing current costs of homes delivered using a variety of different delivery mechanisms, including properties built or acquired by AHBs using funding under the Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) and Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund (HAA), and leased to local authorities; properties leased on a longterm basis from private property owners by AHBs or local authorities, including properties secured through specific programmes such as the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) and the Enhanced Leasing Scheme.

Exchequer funding for SHCEP in 2018 is €115m, increasing to €155m in 2019. This is expected to fund the ongoing cost of the existing social housing homes secured with the support of the Programme at the end of 2018, which will amount to almost 14,000, together with over 4,800 new social housing homes, targeted for delivery across the build, acquisition and leasing streams in 2019.

Details of the total funding drawn-down by local authorities under SHCEP from 2014 to 2017, and for the first half of 2018, are provided below in tabular form. The total cost of leased dwellings funded under SHCEP for Q1 and Q2 2018 was €13,278,131 (Q1 total €8,072,551; Q2 €5,205,580). A detailed breakdown of payments made to local authorities by my Department, by leasing type, is not available before Q1 2018.

Table 2: SHCEP Expenditure 2014-2018