Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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777. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps he is taking to fulfil the programme for government commitment to increase the provision of smaller homes in developments ensuring that older persons can remain living in their communities close to essential services and facilities. [41140/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The ‘Programme for Government - Our Shared Future’ commits to ensuring that, where new developments are being provided, there is an appropriate mix of housing design types, including universally designed units, and accommodation for older people and people with disabilities. In addition, the Government is also committed to supporting older people to remain living in their own homes and communities as they age if that is their wish.

My Department, in conjunction with the Department of Health, is currently implementing the 40 actions under the Housing Options for our Ageing Population Joint Policy Statement, published in 2019, including supported housing/housing with care so that older people have a wider range of housing options and choices available to them. An Implementation Group with an independent Chair is overseeing the development of the policy framework and has published two progress reports to date.

We are committed to putting in place measures to ensure that sustainable housing is provided in the right location to enable people to age in the community; to design housing and the environment in accordance with the principles of sustainable lifetime housing; to promote the use of assistive technology and provide grant assistance to support people to live independently; to give adequate consideration to the need for social connectedness in devising policy; and to work collaboratively with all stakeholders to achieve the policy objectives.

In terms of the evaluation of housing needs, National Policy Objective 37 of the National Planning Framework (NPF) provides for a Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) to be undertaken in each local authority area. The objective is to ensure long-term strategic housing needs are met. The purpose of the HNDA is to: (1) assist local authorities to develop long-term strategic views of housing need across all tenures, (2) provide a robust evidence base to support decisions about new housing supply, wider investment and housing related services, which inform an overall national housing profile, (3) inform policies about the proportion of social and affordable housing required, and (4) provide evidence to inform policies related to the provision of specialist housing and housing related services. Further information on the HNDA is available online at: www.gov.ie/en/publication/eaa99-housing-need-and-demand-assessment-hnda/.

Guidance was issued to local authorities on 14 April 2021 by Circular, advising that the Excel-based HNDA Tool with associated Instructions, data sources and other background information are available on the HNDA page of the Department’s website and that it is expected that a HNDA will be completed in accordance with the associated guidance as part of the development plan and aligned housing strategy review process in cases where the notice of the review of the plan issues subsequent to 14 April 2021.