Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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365. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will identify the precise number of affordable local authority houses he expects to provide by county based on the number of housing applicants in each local authority area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28796/20]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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369. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his proposals for direct and rapid build housing as required in each local authority area nationally with a view to making provisions to avoid homelessness in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28800/20]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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370. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the various locations throughout County Kildare earmarked for local authority or affordable housing by way of purchase or direct build in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28801/20]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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371. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of families on Kildare County Council housing list; when he expects them to be accommodated through the various proposals before him via the private sector or the local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28802/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 365 and 369 to 371, inclusive, together.

A key commitment of the Programme for Government "Our Shared Future" is ensuring that affordable, quality homes are available to everyone in Irish society.

The 2019 Summary of Social Housing Assessments shows that 3,386 households were qualified for social housing support from Kildare County Council, which represents a decrease of 39% since 2016. While allocation of individual homes is a matter for the Council, my Department has been working with all stakeholders to ensure the supply of social housing can be increased using a broad range of programmes under Build, Acquisition, Lease, the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and the Rental Accommodation Scheme.

My Department has assisted in the delivery of over 1,850 social housing homes in Co. Kildare under Build, Acquisition and Leasing since 2016. At end June 2020, there were 2,320 households actively in receipt of HAP support in County Kildare, with additional tenancies being supported week on week

The pipeline for future delivery in Kildare is strong with approximately 1,450 homes due for delivery before the end of 2021, with more being added to that pipeline regularly.

A detailed Social Housing Construction Status Report is published each quarter which provides scheme level detail on new build activity under Rebuilding Ireland. The most recent publication covers the period up to the end of Q4 2019 and is available on the Rebuilding Ireland website at the following link:

The Q1/Q2 2020 Construction status report will be published soon. The construction status report gives a list of the individual projects that make up the new Build programme and is sorted by local authority.

The construction status report gives information on a range of Build programmes including Direct and Design-Build (Rapid Build Housing) projects. My Department is working closely with all local authorities in relation to increasing and accelerating the delivery of a range of social housing programmes and supports, including through the use of design-build rapid delivery methodologies. Local authorities have been advised that design-build rapid delivery approaches should increasingly become the norm in terms of delivering social housing projects on local authority-owned land.

Regarding affordable housing, €310 million has already been allocated under the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF) to fund infrastructure to support the delivery of more affordable homes on local authority lands. With a maximum of €50,000 funding available per home, at least 6,200 more affordable homes, to buy or rent, can be facilitated. To date, Serviced Sites Funding of €127 million has been approved in principle in support of 35 projects in 14 local authority areas, which will assist in the delivery of almost 3,200 affordable homes.

Details of all SSF projects that have received approval in principle to date can be found at the following links:

, and

.

It is anticipated that a further SSF call to local authorities will be made later this year.

The Programme for Government also commits to putting affordability at the heart of the housing system through the progression of State-backed affordable housing.

I will outline further plans in terms of affordable housing later in the Autumn, taking account of the progress made under the SSF, as well as the development of the Affordable Purchase scheme and Cost Rental scheme.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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366. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans for the development of private sites as a means of ameliorating the housing shortage by county taking into account the specific needs of each county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28797/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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This Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that affordable, quality housing solutions are available to everyone in Irish society and this is reflected in the Programme for Government "Our Shared Future".

The Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is primarily designed to fund the provision of public off-site infrastructure to relieve critical infrastructure blockages and enable housing developments to be built on key private sites at scale. LIHAF is designed to specifically address the issue of housing supply, which is a crucial factor in terms of moderating house prices.

Thirty projects received final LIHAF approval, in late 2017 and early 2018, with an overall budget of €195.7m, of which €146.8m will be Exchequer funded, with the remainder funded via local authorities. Details of the approvals by local authority area, budget allocation, project description and projected housing delivery are available at www.rebuildingireland.ie/LIHAF.

My colleague, the Minister for Finance established the Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) as a commercial entity in January 2019. Its function is to assist in the delivery of new homes by providing funding for residential development projects throughout the country. For the period up to July 2020, €340 million has been approved to support the delivery of 1,477 new homes, 66% of which will be private housing units. Full details are contained in the HBFI annual report published in July 2020, which includes the locations of all approved projects, and which is available at:

In terms of the specific housing needs of each county, National Policy Objective 37 of the National Planning Framework refers to local authorities undertaking a ‘Housing Needs and Demand Assessment’ (HNDA) for their area. The undertaking of such an assessment will inform the making of the local authority Housing Strategy which in turn feeds into the Development Plan for their county and will frame the requirement for housing development overall across tenure types. My Department is currently working on the development of a HNDA tool and framework which will assist local authorities to accurately and consistently project future housing demand in their own area.