Written answers

Wednesday, 11 May 2022

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Local Authorities

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

122. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount allocated by his Department under the housing grants for local authority housing; and the amount drawn down for counties Westmeath and Longford, respectively, in 2020, 2021 and 2022, in tabular form. [23730/22]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Management and maintenance of the approximate 140,000 local authority owned social homes is an important issue. In accordance with section 58 of the Housing Act, 1966 local authorities are legally responsible for the management and maintenance of these homes. Local authorities also have a legal obligation to ensure that all of their tenanted properties are compliant with the provisions of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations, 2019. Local authority officials and elected members have a very important role to play in this regard by making adequate budgetary provision for housing repairs and cyclical maintenance utilising the housing rental income available to them as part of the annual budgetary process.

Notwithstanding the legal obligation on local authorities to manage and maintain their own stock, my Department does provide annual funding support to local authorities for management and maintenance under a number of funding programmes.

Under the Voids Programme,my Department has supported local authorities in refurbishing vacant social homes and returning them to productive use. From 2014 to 2021, expenditure of some €261 million was recouped to local authorities under the Voids Programme which funded the return to productive use of 18,527 properties nationwide. Local authorities also provide significant funding from their own resources to address the level of vacancy within the social housing stock.

Full published details in relation to output up to and including the 2021 programme are available at this link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/0906a-other-local-authority-housing-scheme-statistics/#voids-programme.

Under the Energy Efficiency Programme, my Department funds the carrying out of retrofitting works to local authority dwellings. Since the programme commenced in 2013 over 75,000 homes have received retrofit works with a total exchequer spend of €184 million under the scheme.

The newly revised ten year Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme launched in 2021 is designed around the Programme for Government commitment to retrofit 500,000 homes to a B2/Cost Optimal BER standard by 2030, of which approximately 36,500 of those homes are expected to be local authority homes.

In 2020 funding of €20 million was made available to allow for upgrades to approximately 750 dwellings in the midlands, under the 'Just Transition' programme, as part of the Programme for Government and Climate Action Plan.

An annualised breakdown of the units retrofitted under both the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme and Midlands Retrofit Programme, is available on my Department's website at the following links: www.gov.ie/en/publication/668c1-energy-efficiency-retrofitting-programme-expenditure-output/ and www.gov.ie/en/publication/b86b3-midlands-energy-retrofit-programme-expenditure-and-units/.

Under the Disabled Persons Grant Scheme, my Department funds local authorities in carrying out necessary adaptation works to local authority properties to cater for the needs of elderly and disabled tenants and/or those people living in overcrowded conditions in local authority properties.

My Department's approach every year is to issue a single full year allocation to each local authority, so they can plan, prioritise and implement the programme to carry out the varying works necessary to meet the needs of their tenants. The programme is 90% funded by the Department with a 10% contribution from the Local Authority.

The allocation and drawdown of funding for each local authority for the period 2011-2021 for the Disabled Persons Grant, which incorporates Improvement Works in Lieu, is available at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/061cd-disabled-persons-grant-and-improved-works-in-lieu-schemes-allocation-and-drawdown/?referrer=http://www.gov.ie/en/publication/c472d-disabled-persons-grant-and-improved-works-in-lieu-schemes-allocation-and-drawdown-2011-2020/.

The Department is committed to putting in place structures to ensure the effective and efficient management of the local authority housing stock and is working with the Local Government Management Agency and the local authorities to transition from a largely response based approach to housing stock maintenance to a strategic and informed planned maintenance approach, informed by stock condition surveys. This will see all 140,000 local authority social housing properties surveyed to determine their condition so as to inform future work programmes and ensure the available funding is spent in a strategic and focused way.

Statistical data for 2022 will be published in early 2023.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.