Vol. 510 No. 6
31 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of local authority housing starts which he expects will be approved for each of the years from 2000 to 2003 under the four year housing programme; his views on whether this allocation is adequate to meet the growing need for local authority housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23327/99]
I am conscious of the increased level of social housing need and considerable priority is being afforded to tackling this need. The Government had already taken action in advance of the results of the assessment of need. Increased resources were provided for the local authority housing programme with 4,500 house starts or purchases provided for in 1999. The first multi-annual local authority housing programme will commence in 2000 and provide 22,000 houses over the next four years. I am also committed to expanding voluntary housing output to deliver up to 4,000 additional units per annum over coming years.
I will shortly determine and notify allocations to individual authorities for the four year multi-annual housing programme and I will take into consideration the results of the needs assessment and the capacity of local authorities to deliver effectively on housing programmes. The early notification of the multi-annual allocations will enable them to produce a streamlined delivery of housing output over the next four years and provide a better and more effective mechanism of social housing delivery. I will ask local authorities to front load their programmes as much as possible where the increased level of housing needs warrants it.
I am confident that the enhanced multi-annual local authority housing programme, together with the output from complementary social housing measures and vacancies occurring in the existing housing stock, will enable the housing needs of up to 9,800 households to be catered for in 1999. The increased social housing output over the next four years, provided for in the national development plan, will meet the needs of more than 50,000 households. I expect that the needs of the weakest sector of the community will be adequately addressed through the local authority housing programme.
If the Minister of State gave that reply in an examination he would fail because he did not answer the question. I asked how many local authority housing starts will there be in each of the next four years and I invite the Minister to answer that question. Will he confirm that the total number of local authority houses announced yesterday in the NDP – 35,000 over seven years – is less than the total number of applicants who currently seek local authority housing?
I did not expect that I would have to divide 22,000 by four to inform the Deputy that there will be 5,500 starts per annum.
In each year?
Yes, I announced that months ago.
Therefore nothing new was announced yesterday.
The difference is that the money is being provided.
The Minister of State should have provided the money last year for all local authority housing.
The Minister of State, without interruption, please.
Deputy Gilmore is well aware that the number of local authority houses to be built in any period does not reflect the overall picture in terms of the number of applicants on housing waiting lists. Many other elements of the social housing programme must be taken into account, such as the number of voluntary houses built under the capital assistance scheme and the rent subsidy scheme, the number of houses built under the affordable housing scheme and the number of vacancies occurring in local authority houses annually which, for many years, has been assessed at 3,500.
When all these factors are put together, the housing needs of 90,000 households have been met during the lifetime of the national development plan, the seven year period mentioned.
The only factor the Minister omits is the additional number of people going on to the housing list every year which is averaging 7,000. Will the Minister confirm, since the question relates specifically to local authority housing, that there are currently 40,000 applicants specifically seeking local authority housing, not other forms of social housing, and that that figure has been assessed as correct and confirmed by his Department? Will be accept that a total provision of 35,000 over seven years goes nowhere near meeting the requirements of those who are currently on the list, not to mention those families who will be added the list over that seven year period?
The Deputy has been told on a number of occasions, both in the House and elsewhere, about the results of the housing assessment which was carried out on 31 March 1998 and submitted to the Department. There is no point in putting those figures on the record again but in case the Deputy has forgotten them, 39,176 households were assessed as being in need of local authority housing. I have already stated that the number of households I would expect to have their housing needs met during the life of the national development plan, which is not the ques tion that has been put, is about 90,000. The Deputy has said there are 39,000 on the waiting list. If there are 39,000 on the waiting list, obviously we will cater for many new applicants on the waiting list as well.
The Minister of State is misleading the House.
Questions are being asked but they do not hide the fact that this Government is making an enormous financial contribution towards providing an adequate supply of houses for the weaker sections of our community, those who are unable from their own resources to provide a home for themselves. I have introduced a number of new options for people of low income levels to help them to be adequately housed.
We must proceed to Question No. 32.
I will continue and will not be diverted from what I am trying to do in providing good quality homes for the weaker sections of our community.
Some 35,000 is not enough. The Minister of State has not provided enough.
Question No. 32 please.
