asked the Minister for the Environment if he will give permission to local authorities to purchase houses from private builders where a surplus of such houses exist in their area and where the demands for local authority housing cannot be met within a reasonable time.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Local Authority Housing.
9.
I would refer the Deputy to my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 422 of 8 November last. As indicated in that reply, the basic aim of the Government's housing policy is to ensure that, as far as the resources of the economy permit, every family can obtain a dwelling of good standard located in an acceptable environment at a price or rent they can afford. A secondary aim is to encourage owner-occupation.
The private housing sector is encouraged by various subventions from public funds to provide as many as possible of the required dwellings. The local authority housing programme is geared to meet the housing needs of persons and families who are not in a position to build, purchase or rent suitable private accommodation for themselves.
Housing construction by local authorities is intended to be additional to the maximum output which can be encouraged from the private sector. It is planned, designed and built to specific standards to meet the ascertained needs of applicants on approved waiting lists.
Dwellings are built in locations and to plans chosen to meet these needs appropriately.
The programme provides an important source of well-spread and steady employment additional to the work force engaged in the private housing sector.
Local authorities are, therefore, required to construct their new dwellings themselves, or to have them designed and built to the approved standards, normally on the basis of open competitive tendering.
Occasionally, and in exceptional circumstances, authorities may propose the acquisition of individual existing private dwellings to meet some special requirement. Such proposals are considered by me on their merits and in the light of the capital resources available to me for the construction of new local authority houses generally in any year.
While that reply is very interesting it does not really answer the question. Would the Minister agree that the amount of money allocated by the Department for the construction of local authority housing in 1979 and 1980 was inadequate last year and is inadequate this year also to meet the demands?
That is a separate question.
It relates to the question on the Order Paper.
I am satisfied that there was available in 1979 and again in 1980 more money than has been available in any other year to meet the requirements of local authorities, perhaps not in full, but this is due to our having a growing and young population which means that the demands are increasing all the time.
There is not any need for the Minister to be on the defensive. He knows that the moneys are not adequate and that every local authority are passing resolutions seeking extra money. Would the Minister agree also that because of the downturn in the economy many builders cannot dispose of houses in the private sector and would it not be a good idea to match the demand and the funds on the one side with the surplus of demand on the other side and to allow local authorities to buy houses that have been built by the private sector as a means of reducing their housing lists?
I have not said that that would not be a good idea but sometimes it is something that is very difficult to operate. However, I am prepared to consider any proposal that comes from a local authority concerning the purchase of private houses. Any such houses would be considered from the point of view both of suitability as to location and from the point of view of standard. This happened in my former constituency in relation to houses at Ballingarry which were taken over by the local authority to meet local needs. There is not any objection to this being done and if any local authority has a proposal of this kind, we would consider it.