Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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466. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of homes brought into use in quarter 1 of 2021 via the repair and lease scheme. [21575/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) was developed to assist private property owners and local authorities or approved housing bodies (AHBs) to harness the accommodation potential that exists in vacant dwellings across Ireland. Subject to the suitability of the dwelling for social housing, the cost of the necessary repairs will be met upfront by the local authority or an AHB with the cost of the repairs being recovered from the property owner by offsetting it against the lease payment.

At end 2020, a total of 234 dwellings had been brought back into use under the scheme across a range of dwelling types, including over the shop properties, former bedsits, city centre terraced houses, and one off rural dwellings.  The budget allocation for RLS in 2021 is €11 million, targeting the delivery of 170 homes.  My Department is currently collecting data from local authorities in relation to social housing delivery for Q1 2021 and this data will be published when available.

Data to end Q4 2020 in relation to dwellings delivered by each local authority under RLS is available on my Department's website at the following link:

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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467. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of homes brought into use in quarter 1 of 2021 via the buy and renew scheme. [21576/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Social housing completions for Q1 of 2021 under the range of delivery programmes, including the Buy & Renew Scheme, are currently being collated and will be published as soon as possible.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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468. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of homes acquired via the Housing Agency in quarter 1 of 2021; and the average cost of each unit. [21577/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing Agency has been provided with direct capital funding to facilitate the acquisition of suitable portfolios of vacant properties for social housing from financial institutions and investors.  An Acquisitions Fund of €70m was established with effect from 1 January 2017, with the objective of acquiring some 1,600 homes over the period to 2021, for onward sale to Approved Housing Bodies for use for social housing purposes.

By the end of 2020 the Housing Agency had purchased 826 properties using the Fund.  A further 6 properties were acquired in Q1 2021 at an average cost of €192,917 per unit.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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469. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund funding that has been drawn down by local authority to date in 2021, in tabular form. [21579/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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In terms of the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund  (LIHAF) funding drawdown, thus far, most infrastructure projects have been at the design, planning and procurement stages, and the bulk of expenditure will arise during the construction phase.  This is reflected in the level of expenditure to end 2020, with approximately €59.916m in Exchequer funds drawn down (matched by a further 25% local authority funding bringing the total expenditure to approximately €79.888m). A further €4.995m (matched by a further 25% local authority funding bringing the total expenditure to approximately €6.66m) has been drawn down to date in 2021.  Whilst drawdown to date has been in-line with expectations and budget profiling, at this time it is not fully apparent what impact the extended closure of the construction sector due to the Level 5 public health restrictions will have on LIHAF funding claims in 2021. The table below details the exchequer funding drawn down for the period 01 January 2021 to 28 April 2021.

*This claim is currently being processed.