Vol. 413 No. 6
15 Tomás Mac Giolla asked the Minister for the Environment if he will outline the progress made since 7 May 1991 in implementing the proposals contained in the Plan for Social Housing; the number of new local authority houses being constructed this year; whether local authorities have raised queries with him about the operation of the new housing policies; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
17 Mr. T. O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Environment if he will publish a progress report on the implementation of the social housing programme announced by him; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
24 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for the Environment if he has any intention of reviewing the Plan for Social Housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
33 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for the Environment when the Government will implement the Plan for Social Housing announced in February 1991, as set out in the Programme for Government.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 15, 17, 24 and 33 together and to circulate in the Official Report a summary statement of returns made to my Department by local authorities following a request to them to report progress on the implementation of the Plan for Social Housing as at 30 September last.
Operational details of all the new schemes included in the plan have been available to local authorities for some months. In addition, every effort has been made to assist local authorities in the implementation of the plan in a number of ways. With the Minister of State and senior officials of the Department I met local authority managers and officials on 28 February 1991, to discuss implementation of the plan. A series of regional meetings between the Department's officials and local authority housing staff was held in May-June, 1991. Bilateral meetings with local authorities have been held, where requested and all queries, written or oral, from local authorities have been promptly dealt with. A compendium of the detailed circulars issued under the plan has been compiled and supplied to all local authorities. An information booklet Housing Choice covering the full range of housing schemes has been prepared and supplied in quantity to local authorities for local distribution. Department officials participated in a seminar organised by local authority managers on 27 September 1991 and legal consultation has been arranged with local authority law agents.
I expect that some 1,500 new local authority houses will be commenced this year. In addition, while progress in the implementation of some of the new schemes has been slower than expected in the early stages, I believe that from now on these schemes should begin to benefit significant numbers of persons in need of accommodation and that their potential will be increasingly realised by the local authorities. My Department and I will continue to monitor progress and to promote effective implementation by local authorities of the various schemes. Their operation will, of course, be kept under observation to see what changes, if any, ought to be made to improve their effectiveness.
Implementation of plan for social housing position at 30 September, 1991
|
Shared Ownership |
|
|
Number of applications received |
760 |
|
Number of approvals in principle issued |
59 |
|
Number of transactions completed |
2 |
|
Improvement Works in Lieu of Re-housing |
|
|
Number of houses identified as suitable |
461 |
|
Number where works commenced |
6 |
|
Mortgage Allowance |
|
|
Number of applications received |
147 |
|
Number of approvals issued |
38 |
|
Sites |
|
|
Number of sites for which applications received |
323 |
|
Number of sites approved for sale |
88 |
|
Bathrooms (showers in L.A. Dwellings) |
|
|
Number of dwellings where work has started |
274 |
|
Number completed |
162 |
|
Rental Subsidy |
|
|
Number of projects proposed/in planning |
31 |
|
Total number of dwellings involved |
234 |
Data based on returns received from: 29 county councils, 5 county borough corporations, 6 borough corporations and 39 urban district councils.
Will the Minister agree that this is an extremely important matter? Is he satisfied with the progress local authorities are making and that adequate debate is taking place between his Department and the local authorities?
This is a very important element of Government policy. It is a very good scheme. I am satisfied there is sufficient consultation between my Department and the local authorities. While some progress has been made, we would like to see more progress but I believe there has been much more interest in the scheme in recent times.
When does the Minister propose to introduce legislation to give legal effect to the concept of shared ownership of social housing? When introducing this legislation will he consider including measures to give local authorities the legal power to sell flats?
I hope to circulate the new housing Bill before the end of the year and I will have the point about giving legal effect to the sale of flats examined.
Arising from the tabular statement which the Minister proposes to circulate in the Official Report will the Minister inform the House of the number of housing applicants on local authority waiting lists and the number of homeless people? Secondly, would he confirm that since the publication of the Plan for Social Housing not a single unit of accommodation has been provided through the shared ownership scheme, the making available of sites, house extensions or other methods proposed in that plan? Would he confirm that the plan has now collapsed as an abysmal failure and would he, as a new Minister, assure the House that he will give top priority to taking steps to provide for the tens of thousands of people on local authority waiting lists who are at present becoming absolutely hopeless about being housed.
I think the Deputy has made his point adequately.
At the end of September two transactions had been completed. There were 760 applications received and 59 approvals in principle had issued for the new shared ownership arrangement.
How many units had been actually built?
That is rather a specific question, Deputy——
He did not answer how many were on the housing list. I asked him a specific question——
——and may well require a special question.
——which arises from the original question. How many are on the housing list?
I am calling Deputy Jim Mitchell.
The Minister has not denied the point that hardly a house has been built under the Plan for Social Housing. Would he agree that his predecessor's social housing policy is an abject failure and that the myth that Fianna Fáil is good for the construction industry is well and truly blown out of the water both in relation to private sector housing and public sector housing? In order to facilitate progress towards housing, I ask the Minister whether he would accept an offer from this side of the House to have the Second Stage debate on the Housing Bill before Christmas and to have the Committee Stage referred to a select committee, which could sit in January, so that the Bill could be enacted immediately after the Christmas recess?
As I said, the Housing Bill will be circulated before the end of the year but, as the Deputy knows, in advance of the enactment of the Housing Bill arrangements were put in place with the local authorities so that they could avail——
They are not working, though.
It is not the legislation that is holding up the shared ownership——
What is then?
Well, as I said, first, it was announced only last February——
That is a year ago.
That is right, ten months ago.
Cynically, on Valentine's Day — the god of love.
Let us hear the Minister without interruption, please.
As I say, within six months they had processed and completed transactions——
It is all paper.
It is all paper, no houses.
There were also——
Please desist from interrupting. Let us hear the Minister out. Questions have been asked, let us give the Minister the courtesy of listening to his replies.
It was necessary in advance of the new housing legislation to introduce measures that would legally allow local authorities to participate in the very good objectives set out in the social housing policy document — not just the shared ownership scheme but also all the other issues dealt with in that programme.
Would the Minister accept the objective of the Plan for Social Housing was to give a veneer of sincerity in relation to housing to the Government in advance of the local elections? Would he accept now that there are 30,000 families and individuals on housing lists or would he deny that and give an accurate figure, because we have not been able to get one from his predecessor in the past six months? Would the Minister give the House figures in relation to the number of sites sold to would-be house builders under the Plan for Social Housing?
That is a very specialised question.
I was going to say that, a Cheann Comhairle. I do not have the details asked for in the question but——
You should have.
What is the total number of homeless?
The total number on the housing waiting lists is 23,500.
And two applications have been dealt with.
As regards further progress on the social housing policy, I have already told the House that I shall be bringing forward the Housing Bill as rapidly as possible. I shall also be meeting all the county managers within the next couple of weeks and I shall impress upon them the need to utilise all of the measures now at their disposal to tackle the housing needs in their areas.
Would the Minister not agree at this stage, having the benefit of hindsight, that the Plan for Social Housing was conceived because of a housing crisis at the time and was put forward as a panacea for the housing difficulties and that it is a shocking indictment of the Minister, and, indeed, the Department, that now, at the end of the year, he says that only two transactions have been completed? Would the Minister not seriously examine the chronic lack of housing and stop tinkering around with something that will act only as a very small incentive in this specific scheme?
It is a veneer of doing something.
The new policies outlined in the Plan for Social Housing are in addition to what is there already——
To what?
There are no houses built.
Seventy in the whole of County Dublin.
There is no housing programme.
Of course there is a housing programme.
Let us hear the Minister.
Of course there is a housing programme and 1,500 local authority houses will be completed in the current year. That is a housing programme.
At one stage that used to be in one month.
Look at the figures for the past five years.
We could look at the figures for the past five years. I accept that there was a reduction in the number of local authority houses built.
A reduction to six.
I already referred in an earlier question to the fact that throughout the 1990s the main thrust of policy in this country has been that people should be assisted to purchase their own houses where that is possible——
Yes, that we agree with.
——and where that is not possible then, obviously, there is an obligation on the local authority. We are discussing——
Twenty-three thousand people cannot avail of that.
Please, let us hear the Minister.
The new social housing policy has many new and worthwhile ideas—
They are not a solution.
——to ensure that we provide their own housing for as many people as possible. They are very worthwhile ideas.
As a support, not as a——
There are too many Deputies offering.
The question of the below market subsidy for people in——
The Minister is not being allowed to reply to questions. This must not continue, otherwise I am going on to another question.
Would the Minister not agree that the last thing he wants to do as a new Minister for the Environment is preside over the kind of catastrophic tragedy occurring with more than 23,000 people on the housing list? In regard to housing legislation, would the Minister not reconsider Dublin and other cities, where the cost of housing is so high that some of the elements in the social housing programme will not be capable of implementation and will not in any way help to solve the crisis?
Certainly we shall monitor the position to ensure that we achieve the objectives set out in Plan for Social Housing.
Would the Minister acknowledge that there is a serious housing crisis at the moment and, if so, would he make housing a priority of his Ministry so that at the end of his term he will be in a position to point to the alleviation of misery among people who are in desperate need of housing.
I assure the Deputy that both myself and my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Connolly, will discharge our responsibilities to the people.
In view of the fact that the figure given by the Minister of the number on housing lists, 23,500, is 4,000 more than the figure available last year, on which the Plan for Social Housing was based, could the Minister now give the House an assurance that he intends to change that plan and to provide adequate resources and adequate means to give homes to people who are without them?
I have already told the House that the Government did launch a new housing policy——
No. Is the Minister going to change it?
It is adding people to the list.
——to supplement what was there. I have already told Deputy Owen that we will monitor the position to ensure that the ideas outlined in the policy are effective. As I have said in recent times, my information is that there is more interest on the part of a number of local authorities in the shared ownership.
It is a colossal cosmetic brochure; it is like selling lipstick.
The Minister has now told the House that there are 3,500 people on the local authority housing lists. He has also told us that the small number of 1,500 local authority houses will be completed in the current year. Will he tell us how many new people are coming onto the waiting list this year? Furthermore, would he not agree that his present programme indicates a growing crisis in housing, with a projected larger housing list next year and the year after and less hope for people seeking such houses? In view of that fact may I appeal to him to have the Second Stage of the Housing Bill taken before Christmas with Committee Stage immediately thereafter?
Repetition is a luxury we cannot afford.
With regard to the 1,500 new local authority houses being completed this year I should say that that does not take account of the houses provided through the public sector. There will be between 5,000 and 6,000 houses available in the current year, which figure is expected to increase to over 7,000 houses in 1992.
That is in the private sector.
No, it includes houses provided by public funding, by way of casual vacancies and voluntary——
A few years ago there were 28,000 being built.
Given the number of approvals or payments in respect of shared ownership loans so far in the current year could the Minister express that number as a percentage of the projection for the whole year under that heading?
I do not have the up-to-date figures. The figures I have available are for the end of September last. That would be a more appropriate question at the end of the year when we can ascertain how many people do take up shared ownership.
I am calling Question No. 16.
