Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is responsible for, inter alia, ensuring that there is a suitable social housing legislative and regulatory framework as well as making funding available for the delivery of social and affordable homes. Local authorities are the statutory housing authorities and their responsibilities are set out across the Housing Acts 1966 to 2022. The overall day-to-day operation of the social housing system is a matter solely for each local authority. My Department provides a range of funding programmes to support local authorities in meeting the housing needs locally; the authority for the granting of such funding is set out under section 15 of the Housing Act 1988.

Section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended, set down a standard procedure for assessing applicants for social housing support which all local authorities implement. The allocation of dwellings to qualified households, including the prioritisation of certain households, is a matter for the local authority concerned, in accordance with their allocation scheme, the making of which is a reserved function of the elected members of the local authority concerned.

The Government is committed to increasing social housing delivery and work with a range of delivery partners, including local authorities to ensure housing is available to the most vulnerable in society. Housing for All is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. Housing for All provides for over €4bn in capital investment in housing each year.

Local authorities are independent corporate entities with full responsibility under law for the performance of their functions and the discharge of their governance and other responsibilities. My Department is working closely with the local authorities to ensure that they have the necessary funding and resources to deliver the social and affordable targets set out in Housing for All.