Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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294. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of social housing retrofits delivered in 2022 with the €85 million allocation; the amount of this funding that he expects to go unspent in 2022; and the amount of the unspent funding that will be in the capital carryover for 2023. [48301/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Earlier this year, my Department announced a significant increase in funding available of €85 million which will provided for the upgrade of approximately 2,400 social homes in 2022. Each local authority received an individual allocation along with a minimum target of homes they are required to retrofit. The programme has been devised in a way to give local authorities a level of flexibility when selecting properties to retrofit ranging from those requiring minor levels of works to properties needing the maximum level of retrofitting required to bring them to a B2/Cost Optimum standard.

Work in relation to the 2022 programme is ongoing, however, it will be later this year before significant recoupment claims are lodged with my Department. Full details in relation to the 2022 Energy Efficiency Programme will be available early in 2023.

In relation to capital carryover for 2023, the Finance Act 2004, section 91, provides for the carryover of up to 10% of the REV allocation (Capital) from one year to the next. For 2023, I have confirmed to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform that I am seeking full capital carryover of 10%, amounting to €340m. The details of the source and subsequent allocation of that funding will be published in the REV later this year. At this stage, I have signalled that €240m of the carryover will be applied to the Housing programme.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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295. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the €30 million allocation for croí cónaithe funding for 2023, by the cities and towns fund. [48302/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Housing for All (published in September 2021) provides a new housing plan for Ireland to 2030 with the overall objective that every citizen in the State should have access to good quality homes through a steady supply of housing in the right locations, with economic, social and environmental sustainability built into the system. The strategy sets out, over four pathways, a broad suite of measures to achieve its policy objectives together with a financial commitment of in excess of €4 billion per annum.

The suite of measures under the pathway to addressing vacancy and efficient use of existing stock includes measures funded by the Croí Cónaithe Fund and €30 million in funding has been allocated to the Croí Cónaithe fund in 2023.

Under the Croí Cónaithe (Towns) umbrella, being delivered by local authorities, funding is made available for the provision of serviced sites for housing to attract people to build their own homes and to support the refurbishment of vacant properties, enabling people to live in small towns and villages and in a sustainable way.

Given that a key objective of Pathway 4 of Housing for All is to ensure that the houses we already have are being fully used, I have decided to extend the eligibility for the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant to vacant properties in both our cities and rural areas.

The Croí Cónaithe (Cities) Scheme supports the building of apartments for sale to owner-occupiers. The Scheme aims to bridge the current “Viability Gap” between the cost of building apartments and the market sale price (where the cost of building is greater). The scheme is targeted principally at activating planning permissions already in place for such homes.

The scheme launched on the 10th May with an Expressions of Interest process and will be managed and administered by the Housing Agency on behalf of my Department. The closing date for receipt of proposals was 21st June 2022. The Housing Agency is conducting the assessment process and due diligence on the first tranche of Croí Cónaithe apartments at the moment but with anticipated construction timelines of around eighteen months Croí Cónaithe (Cities) supported apartment developments will likely be brought to market from 2024. Therefore, financial supports from the Fund, which only arise on sale of apartments to eligible purchasers, are not expected to be incurred until 2024, with the subsidy budget expected to be distributed across 2024, 2025 and 2026.

A small amount of Croí Cónaithe (Cities) expenditure in scheme development and operational costs and proposal professional review costs will be incurred in 2023. The remaining funding has been allocated to Croí Cónaithe (Towns),

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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296. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason that the €544 million HAP allocation in Budget 2023 will fund an additional 8,800 HAP tenancies when the allocation represents a €40 million reduction in the 2022 allocation, which would suggest a net decline in HAP tenancies supported by the Government in 2023. [48303/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The number of new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) tenancies being created each year is declining. In 2020, 15,885 new HAP tenancies were created, this reduced to 13,095 new HAP tenancies in 2021 and at end Q2 2022, 4,625 new HAP tenancies had been created. 

At end Q2 2022 there were more than 60,000 households actively in receipt of HAP support. The 2023 budget allocation will enable continued support for existing tenancies along with funding for 8,800 new households to be accommodated in HAP supported tenancies.

HAP recipients can avail of a move to other forms of social housing support through a transfer list.  33% of exits from the HAP Scheme have been to other forms of Social Housing.  Including 2,061 transfers to other forms of social housing in the first half of 2022. Last year the transfers to other forms of social housing was 4,587.

I am committed to decreasing our reliance on the HAP scheme and central to that is significantly scaling up our social housing supply. Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes in the period 2022-2026. Our clear focus is to increase the stock of social housing through new build projects delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies. My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity in all local authorities. This data is available until the end of Quarter 2 2022 and is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/