Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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778.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 253 of 11 July 2024, if he will revisit his response and provide direct clarification specifically on the critical barriers to the operation of the capital assistance scheme (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter.[33893/24]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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My Department is keen to support the delivery of social housing for people with disability via CAS/Capital Assistance Scheme but through other delivery channels also. The AHB sector is an important element of disability housing delivery and to assist their work in that regard, the Department’s 'Design Manual', which provides guidance and designs for new public housing construction, includes a design approach for a ‘Group Home’ which we hope that AHBs involved in this area will use. The use of such a design would minimise the engagements needed to agree on designs and costs around such disability-focussed housing projects. Other designs in the Manual are based on Universal Design principles to support housing such as for age friendly and for disability use.

Another support that has been put in place by my Department is the availability of the Housing Agency to support certain AHBs in their construction project preparation. This has been used by a range of AHBs including some in the area of housing for people with disability and we hope to see more such AHBs avail of that assistance.

Other challenges that have been highlighted by some AHBs involved with housing for disability, include a requirement to obtain advance approval from the HSE on the support services needed for specialised housing. Thankfully to date, there has been a small number only of situations where housing has been completed for people with disability, but where it has not been possible to use the housing because the care and support required has not been put in place. Where that does happen, it is obviously a cause of distress for all involved and in that context, I see it as essential that we coordinate the capital investment and the care supports for such housing projects and for that reason, we will continue to require approval for support services as part of the capital development process.

AHBs involved with housing for disability have also cited maintenance costs as a challenge. CAS provides full capital funding for housing for priority tenants including people with disability, through the provision of a 30-year non-repayable mortgage. Maintenance costs are funded through a combination of economic rents that the AHBs receive from the tenants, based on their ability to pay and in most cases, a social welfare rental assistance payment. This is paid directly to the AHB which should hold these payments in a ‘sinking fund’ to meet short and long-term maintenance costs.

At the same time, my Department recognises that in the long-term, such properties as they age will require increasing levels of maintenance and investment. This is one of several issues which we are looking at in the context of an ‘AHB Strategic Review’, in which the AHBs themselves are participating. This Forum has been established to set a vision for the sector over the next 10 years and to consider how to address a range of strategic long-term issues facing the sector in order to realise this vision.

There remain other practical challenges in the context of housing being delivered for people with disability by smaller AHBs. A model that is widely used by many such AHBs is the acquisition of second-hand bungalows which are then re-modelled into a Group Home that can accommodate up to 4 persons with disability plus a carer. It is quite common with such projects for the re-modelling costs to be significantly under-estimated, leading to notable escalations in project costs. AHBs may also seek to make agreements with developers to design and build complex accommodation for people with disability, but without providing for a competitive procurement aspect as required for any publicly-funded projects. Such situations can be minimised and avoided by, for example, obtaining advice from the Housing Agency, or by using my Department’s Design Manual.

CAS will continue to be available to support AHBs delivering housing for people with disability. As a funding programme, it is demand-led, so while funding has more than doubled in the last four years to over €200 million last year, regrettably the demand for funding from AHBs who are delivering housing for people with disability has not increased as much as we expected. CAS funding continues to support other important categories of priority housing, but we look forward to more demand and delivery coming from the disability sector.

While I appreciate and value the efforts of smaller AHBs in this area and we will continue to support their efforts, there are obviously limits on their capacity for delivery at the scale required and for that reason, I am keen to continue efforts to mobilise additional such delivery via the bigger AHBs and through our local authorities.