Vol. 456 No. 5
73 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for the Environment if it is his policy to exhort local authorities in regard to their housing allocation to strive for value for money; in the event of the unit cost of building new local authority houses being excessive in comparison with the purchase of secondhand private housing in the area, if he has a preference for the latter course of acquisition being adopted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14186/95]
Local authorities are expected to obtain maximum value for money in respect of their expenditure, whether capital or current, on all their programmes, including housing.
Local authorities have been requested, in planning their housing programmes, to systematically consider the extent to which the programmes include the purchase of private houses and to have effective arrangements in place for such purchases. It is a matter for individual authorities, subject to the equitable and efficient use of the capital resources available to them, to assess the balance of advantage in terms of value for money between constructing a new house and purchasing a private house, either new or second-hand. In nominating their annual programme of starts, authorities are expected to include a realistic target for private house purchases. It is open to an authority, within their authorised capital allocation, to substitute, at any time, the purchase of private houses for the building of new houses.
