Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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585. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if emergency legislation will be introduced to enable Dublin City Council meet even its modest social housing targets in view of the numbers in council homeless accommodation and on housing lists in early 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14908/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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My Department is supporting local authorities in the provision of social housing homes through a range of different initiatives and schemes. This includes the construction of social homes on the land of local authorities and construction delivery in conjunction with Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). Local authorities are also working in partnership with private developers to deliver social housing construction through turnkey arrangements. In addition, my Department is funding social housing delivery through acquisitions, leasing arrangements, the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and the Rent Accommodation Scheme (RAS). Such a blend of delivery mechanisms is essential to ensure the needs of households will be successfully met.

The social housing delivery output figures for 2018 show that the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan is working. The level of progress being made is reflected in social housing waiting lists, which have reduced by 22% between September 2016 and June 2018, from 91,600 households to 71,858. Through partnerships between local authorities, AHBs and a range of other delivery partners, over 45,000 individuals and families had their housing needs met during 2016 and 2017. A total of 27,103 households had their housing needs met in 2018, with 8,422 new social homes brought into active housing stock through, build, acquisition, voids and leasing programmes. This is 550 more homes than targeted for the year.

Local authorities now have substantial pipelines of approved new build social housing projects. Details of these projects can be seen in the Quarter 4 2018 Construction Status Report, which is available on the Rebuilding Ireland website at the following link:

While the management of the social housing delivery programmes and the delivery of emergency accommodation is a matter for individual local authorities, my Department is working closely with all stakeholders, including Dublin Council to accelerate delivery and further expand social housing and emergency accommodation pipelines. This includes structured periodic meetings to review progress. I am confident that the actions, targets, legislative framework and resources available to all local authorities provide a strong platform for meeting our challenges in the housing sector and I am satisfied that all stakeholders are mobilised to keep delivery on track.