Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 November 2013
676. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the progress made on the plans to regulate the social housing sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46279/13]
View answerA range of reforms have been introduced in recent years in the provision and management of social housing, and some further initiatives are under way.
Firstly, reforms have been introduced under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, notably in relation to the assessment of eligibility for social housing support, the allocation of local authority housing, the introduction of anti-social behaviour strategies, homelessness action plans and incremental purchase schemes for new local authority houses and existing local authority apartments. The on-going implementation of the 2009 Act will result in further reform in areas such as local authority rents and tenancies.
Proposals are also being prepared in my Department for the General Scheme of a new Housing Bill that will underpin a new scheme of Housing Assistance Payments, an incremental purchase scheme for existing local authority houses and a revised repossession procedure for local authority housing.
The Government approved in principle the transfer of responsibility for recipients of rent supplement with an established housing need from the Department of Social Protection (DSP) to local authorities using a new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) in March 2013. On 18 July 2013, the Government approved the introduction of HAP including the provision of funding to the local authorities to cover the costs of accommodating HAP claimants. My Department and the DSP continue to work closely on the legal, policy and operational issues involved in developing and introducing HAP.
Approved housing bodies (AHBs) are organisations approved by my Department, under Section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992, to provide social housing support in conjunction with local authorities. The Department is working to create a regulatory framework for such bodies that will provide support and assurance to the sector itself and to its external partners.
As a first step, my Department has developed, in consultation with the AHB sector, a voluntary regulation code as a precursor to a statutory regulatory framework for the sector to support its long-term development. The voluntary regulation code, Building for the Future, was published in July 2013 and will assist housing bodies to improve their governance, management and financial capabilities as we move towards statutory regulation which, it is hoped, will be in place by 2016.
In addition, the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants in the private rented sector will soon be extended to the AHB sector through the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012 which has been passed by Dáil Éireann, and which is currently before the Seanad.
Finally, the Part V housing supply provisions in Section 93 of the Planning & Development Act 2000 have played a significant role in the delivery of social and affordable housing since its introduction and there are many people in good quality housing today as a direct result of the Part V supply mechanisms. However, Part V was designed for a housing market radically different to that which we now have, and the Government is undertaking a full review of Part V – the public consultation phase of the process has recently concluded. Future policy decisions will be informed by the outcomes of this review and consultation process.
