Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 December 2023
226. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the extent to which the local authority housing stock has increased by way of purchase of extra houses or new builds over the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54431/23]
View answer228. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the extent, if any, to which rapid build or modular housing has been offered to Kildare County Council, having regard to the seriousness of the housing situation and recognising that this will not improve unless drastic steps are taken to address the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54433/23]
View answer230. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps he can take to address the acute problem of the local authority housing shortage in the short term, and to identify more ambitious targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54435/23]
View answer232. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the extent to which serviced or serviceable lands, zoned or unzoned, have been identified by each of the local authorities in the greater Dublin area to facilitate a rapid build housing programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54437/23]
View answer234. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the degree to which he expects to meet the imminent demand in respect of housing, following the displacement of tenants from private accommodation for a variety of reasons including repossession, and the immediate needs of such tenants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54440/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 226, 228, 230, 232 and 234 together.
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 an average of 10,000 new build social homes each year in the period to 2030. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the Land Development Agency and €5bn funding through the Housing Finance Agency.
Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes; 3,500 social homes through long-term leasing and 28,500 new affordable homes in the period 2022-2026. Local authorities have also published Housing Delivery Action Plans, setting out details of social and affordable housing delivery over a five-year period, which includes details of the locations of housing projects. The high level of ambition in Housing for All, backed by record levels of State investment in public housing, provides clear evidence of Government commitment to residential construction and provides significant opportunities to the construction sector.
Separately, the LDA has an immediate focus on managing the State’s own lands to develop new homes, and regenerate under-utilised sites. In the longer-term, it will assemble strategic land-banks from a mix of public and private lands making these available for housing in a controlled manner, which is expected to bring essential more long-term stability to the Irish housing market.
Under Housing for All, each local authority was required to prepare a Housing Delivery Action Plan. This Plan sets out details of both social and affordable housing delivery as appropriate over the period 2022-2026, in line with targets set under Housing for All. In preparing the Plans, local authorities were required to include details of land available to deliver housing and details of land acquisition requirements. The Plans also include details of the locations and delivery streams for social housing schemes. The Plans have been published on local authority websites.
Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) has been identified as a key measure to address increased housing delivery and methods to support increased use of MMC are set out in Pathway 5 of Housing for All. The development of MMC will improve productivity in construction and increase efficiency in residential construction. The development of MMC is being led by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment which has established a MMC Leadership and Integration Group and my Department is represented on this Group.
The Housing for All Action Plan Update and Quarter 3 2022 Progress Report, which was published on 2 November, included a new action to develop a roadmap with targets for increased use of MMC in public housing. This Roadmap was published on 11 July 2023 and is available at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/414cd-roadmap-for-increased-adoption-of-mmc-in-public-housing-delivery/. My Department is now working closely with the local authorities, to increase the use of MMC in social and affordable housing.
Modern Methods of Construction is used to describe a range of offsite manufacturing and innovative onsite techniques that provide alternatives to traditional house building. Modern Methods of Construction can be completed dwelling units manufactured in a factory setting and transported to site, or panelised components manufactured in a factory and assembled on site. All Modern Methods of Construction systems must be of a high quality, comply with all requirements of the Building Regulations and have a 60-year durability. For new innovative products or systems, not covered by existing standards, compliance with the Building Regulations can be demonstrated by 3rd party certification by an independent approval body, such as National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI).
Last December funding of €94m was provided to local authorities to address legacy land debts. The provision of this funding was linked to the immediate development of a housing proposal, a commitment to use Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and for construction to start in 2023 or no later than 2024. A total of 26 sites received funding as part of an accelerated delivery programme, and with some additional sites since added, my Department is overseeing a project to progress delivery of MMC projects on 35 sites which will deliver approximately 1,800 new social homes.
The Office of Public Works (OPW), in conjunction with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) as the Department with policy responsibility, is also leading on a project to secure the provision of modular homes to accommodate Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection from the Ukraine.
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.
The Government has also developed the ‘Cost Rental Tenant In-Situ’ (CRTiS) scheme for tenants in private rental homes who are at risk of homelessness because a landlord intends to sell the property, but who are not in receipt of social housing supports. The scheme was established on a temporary administrative basis from 1 April 2023, pending further policy development over the longer term with the intention of transitioning these tenants and homes to the standard Cost Rental model.
The current household net income limit for scheme eligibility is €66,000 for Dublin and €59,000 elsewhere. This is in line with the revised income limits for Cost Rental which came into effect from 1 August 2023. Local Authority Housing Officers have responsibility for assessing the risk of homelessness to tenants who have received a valid notification of termination due to an intended sale of a property, and so it is the local authority that tenants should first approach.
My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in each local authority. This data is available to the end of Q2 2023, and is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: gov.ie - Overall social and affordable housing provision (www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/) - Data for Q3 2023 is currently being collated and will be published shortly.
My Department publishes the Social Housing Construction Status Report (CSR). The CSR provides details of social housing developments and their location that have been completed, are under construction or are progressing through the various stages of the design and tender processes. The most recent publication was for Quarter 2 2023. All Construction Status Reports are available at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/cb885-social-housing-construction-projects-status-reports/
A version of the CSR file can also be downloaded for analysis of completions, locations, approvals stage etc at the link below: gov.ie - Social Housing Construction Projects Status Report Q2 2023 (www.gov.ie/en/publication/3aeae-social-housing-construction-projects-status-report-q2-2023/)
Statistics in relation to the social housing stock are published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) in their Annual Reports on Performance Indicators in Local Authorities. These reports provide a range of information in relation to social housing stock, including vacancy and the average time taken to re-tenant a dwelling. The most recent report, relating to 2022, is available on the NOAC website at the following link: www.noac.ie/noac_publications/8339/#:~:text=The%202022%20Performance%20Indicator%20Report,44%20indicators%20under%2011%20headings
The Government’s Housing for All plan is a living plan with an in-built flexibility to review actions and targets, as needed. The plan currently sets out annual targets of overall housing delivery to 2030. A review and refresh of housing targets has commenced. The work will be underpinned by independent, peer-reviewed research by the ESRI. It will inform national and local housing targets, as well as subsets of social, affordable and private housing, and will ensure we provide enough of the right type of homes, in the right locations, to meet overall need. This work will have regard to detailed Census 2022 data published by the CSO. The ESRI research and analysis will be finalised in Q1 2024.
Significant progress is being made to deliver the ambitious targets contained in Housing for All and my Department is working closely with the local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and other stakeholders to accelerate the delivery of social and affordable housing.
