Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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258. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if information (details supplied) will be provided. [25351/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority administrative area are provided in the statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The SSHA has been conducted on an annual basis since 2016, prior to which it was carried out once every three years, with the last Summary under this approach having taken place in 2013.

Below are links to the summary report for 2013-2020 which include breakdowns by each local authority, across a range of categories, including medical needs.

The oversight and management of housing waiting lists, including the allocation of, and transfer of tenancies, is a matter for the relevant local authority in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, and associated regulations. As such, my Department does not collate information in relation to allocations by individual local authorities to households with a medical priority. Neither, does my Department collate information into the level of individual local authority funding that is used for the accommodation of households with a medical priority. However, details on the length of time spent on the record of qualified households (waiting lists) can be found at tables 2.8 and A1.8 of the report. It should be noted that the SSHA is a point in time snapshot of the demand for social housing support in each local authority area and does not necessarily reflect the dynamic nature of entry to and exit from the housing waiting lists.

Report 2020www.gov.ie/en/publication/970ea-summary-of-social-housing-assessments-2020-key-findings/#:~:text=The%20Summary%20of%20Social%20Housing,is%20not%20currently%20being%20met.

It is important to note that only the results of the 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 summaries are directly comparable with each other. These summaries were carried out using a standardised methodology as specified by the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011. Previous summaries were not carried out under the current standardised assessment regime for social housing support which came into effect on 1 April 2011.

As there were no assessments carried out in 2012, 2014 or 2015 my Department does not have data for those years.

Below also is a link to the Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) for 2011.

Report 2019

Report 2018

Report 2017

Report 2016

Report 2013

HNA 2011

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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259. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the total number of live long-term leases for the most recent date available by lease type that is, mortgage to rent, repair and lease, standard long-term lease, enhanced long-term lease, Part V lease and so on; and the total estimated cost of these leases in 2021 for each category of lease, in tabular form. [25357/21]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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260. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the total number of long-term leases active in each year since long-term leasing was introduced in 2009 to 2020, by lease type and location, and by local authority area; and the annual cost of each lease type for each year, in tabular form. [25358/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 259 and 260 together.

The Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) supports the delivery of social housing by providing financial support to local authorities for the long term leasing of houses and apartments from private owners and Approved Housing Bodies.

At end 2020, a total of 9,208 leased properties were supported under SHCEP across all leasing delivery programmes. Details of these dwellings by lease type, and their estimated cost in 2021, are set out in Table 1 below. Details of the annual cost of each lease type in each year from 2018 to 2020 is set out in Table 2 below. Data in relation to the cost of each lease type is not available for the period 2009 to 2017.

A breakdown of the total number of leased dwellings by lease type and local authority is set out in the attached spreadsheet for each year from 2014 to 2020. A detailed breakdown by lease type is not available for the period 2009 to 2013.

All data is based on local authority claims for operational agreements recorded on the Department's SHCEP financial management system. Any variations in data between operational figures and total output under leasing delivery streams is due to the time lag in the submission of claims to my Department in respect of new claims after delivery.

Table 1: Total Leased Units at End 2020 & Estimated Cost in 2021

Table 2: Leasing end 2018 to 2020

Attchment

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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261. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the property price caps for the shared equity loan scheme; and the details of the methodology and data used in setting these price caps. [25359/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The current price caps envisaged for the Affordable Purchase Shared Equity Scheme are detailed below. These will be finalised in advance of the schemes deployment and will be kept under review.

Determining the price caps requires balancing the accessibility of the scheme for eligible purchasers, mitigating against potential inflationary pressure and ensuring that a range of homes can be supplied across key locations.

The price ceilings are informed by the CSO recorded median prices of new First Time Buyer homes sold by area. Therefore, homes in the lower half of recorded sales prices over the previous year are targeted.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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262. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the affordable cost rental units funded under the cost rental equity loan scheme in 2021; and the location, approved housing body provider, purchase cost, cost rental equity loan contribution and expected entry level rent for each scheme, in tabular form. [25360/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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On 8 February 2021 I announced approval in principle of funding for 390 new homes under the Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) scheme. This new scheme was allocated €35m in funding in Budget 2021, which is being used to make loans on favourable terms to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) for up to 30% of the cost of new homes for Cost Rental. The announcement followed a Call for Proposals and a rigorous assessment process conducted by the Department and the Housing Agency. CREL financing has been granted this year for 390 new homes, to owned and let by the Tuath, Respond, and Clúid AHBs. The homes are located in Dublin, the surrounding Greater Dublin Area, and Cork, with cost-covering rents projected to be at least 25% below comparable open market prices.

The successful AHBs are completing the necessary financial and commercial arrangements in relation to these homes. When these arrangements are concluded, details of the funded projects, including specific locations, housing typologies, and cost-covering rents, will be made public.

Cost Rental homes will be operated and allocated in line with provisions in the Affordable Housing Bill 2021, which was recently approved by Government and will be published imminently. The Bill defines Cost Rental in Ireland for the first time and will allow the Minister to regulate tenancies in which the rents only cover clearly defined costs.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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263. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of properties that have been registered on a website (details supplied) in each year since it was established by county; the number of these properties that have been brought back into use in each of these years by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25398/21]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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264. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the local authorities that have put in place a vacant homes action plan as required by circular PL7/2017; if he has received feedback on the effectiveness or otherwise of these action plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25405/21]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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265. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the additional supports that his Department has made available to the respective local authorities to enable them to appoint vacant home officers; the number of such officers appointed by each local authority in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25407/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 263, 264 and 265 together.

The National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy, which was published by my Department in 2018, strives to provide a targeted, effective and co-ordinated approach to identifying and tackling vacancy across Ireland. To assist local authorities in achieving this objective, my Department has, since 2018, provided funding to each local authority of €50,000 per annum. This funding is to support the work of a Vacant Homes Office, including a Vacant Homes Officer for each local authority.

The provision of central funding provides for focus to be given to the role of the Office and reinforces the capacity of the Department’s Vacant Homes Unit to liaise with and seek information/statistics from a dedicated contact point within each local authority. All 31 local authorities have claimed their funding up to June 2021 and this funding has been secured up to June 2022.Table 1 below lists the number of Vacant Homes Officers in each local authority on a full or part-time basis:

Table 1

Each of the 31 local authorities have prepared a Vacant Homes Action Plan for their administrative area. The Vacant Home Action Plan identifies the scale of vacant homes in a local authority’s jurisdiction and sets ambitious but realistic targets of the number of vacant homes that can ultimately be brought back into use.

As emphasised in the National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy, securing improved data and analysis on vacancy allows for more robust monitoring of vacancy at a national level and improved outputs at local level. To help record levels of vacancy, the vacanthomes.ie website has been developed by Mayo County Council on behalf of the local government sector. This provides a central portal for individuals to anonymously log possible vacant properties and alert local authorities to those properties. As appropriate, Vacant Homes Officers can then follow up with the owners to see whether the house can be re-used quickly.

The latest statistics from vacanthomes.ie indicate that 5,210 properties have been recorded on the website since 2017.

Table 2 below indicates the number of properties registered on vacanthomes.ie by year and county:

Table 2 Vacant Homes Logged

Table 3 in the excel spreadsheet attached provides the number of properties brought back into use by year and county under the Repair and Lease Scheme, the Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund and the Buy and Renew Scheme. These are the three key supports available from my Department to owners to bring vacant housing stock back into use as social housing.