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

Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes and 3,500 social homes through long-term leasing 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 (AHBs).

For 2023, the Government has agreed that there will be increased provision for social housing acquisitions and my Department will fund local authorities to acquire at least 1,500 social homes. The additional acquisitions will be focused on properties where a tenant in receipt of social housing supports and has received a Notice of Termination due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property. My Department issued a circular letter to all local authorities in March, setting out details of these arrangements and each local authority was provided with a provisional allocation for social housing acquisitions in 2023. Wexford County Council was given a provisional target to acquire 30 social homes in 2023 and this will be kept under review.

Local authorities have delegated sanction in relation to these acquisitions, subject to those acquisitions being within Acquisition Cost Guidelines issued by the Department.

The current Acquisition Cost Guidelines (ACGs) and Basic Unit Cost Ceilings (BUCs) were updated and issued to local authorities in April of this year. These guidelines are reviewed and updated as appropriate by my Department usually on an annual basis.

The ACGs provide cost guidelines for the acquisition by housing authorities, of second-hand properties for the provision of social housing. These guidelines reference lower and upper cost ranges, along with an average/benchmark cost, which is representative of the average range of current (at the time of issue) prices across the local authority area.

It is matter for each local authority to decide on appropriate acquisitions having regard to the arrangements for the scheme. Local authorities will work with all social housing supported tenants who receive a Notice of Termination and where it is not possible to purchase the property, the local authority will seek alternative supports, which may include support to obtain an alternative tenancy, including a HAP-supported tenancy or an allocation to local authority stock where possible.

Details of social housing acquisitions will be published as part of the comprehensive programme level statistics published by my Department on a quarterly basis. This data is available for all local authorities to the end of Quarter 2 2023 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/.