Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 April 2015
648. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government further to its requests, and in view of the publication of his social housing targets for local authorities, if he plans to meet the housing strategic policy committee of Louth County Council. [15748/15]
View answer649. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of the 35,000 additional units of social housing under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 that will be new units; the proportion that will involve newly built homes, refurbished long-term voids, leasing agreements with private landlords under the rental accommodation scheme or long-term leasing arrangements with landlords or developers. [15749/15]
View answer650. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the number of new social units to be constructed by Louth County Council and Meath County Council year-on-year, under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 and the social housing targets for local authorities. [15750/15]
View answer651. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the number of new social units to be constructed by private developers year-on-year in County Louth and County Meath, under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 and the social housing targets for local authorities. [15751/15]
View answer652. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the number of new social units to be constructed by public-private partnerships for County Louth and County Meath year-on-year, under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 and the social housing targets for local authorities. [15752/15]
View answer653. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of the 778 additional units of social housing to be provided in County Louth under the social housing targets for local authorities that will be new units; the proportion that will involve newly built homes, refurbished long-term voids, leasing agreements with private landlords under the rental accommodation scheme or long-term leasing arrangements with landlords or developers. [15753/15]
View answer654. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of the 519 additional units of social housing to be provided in County Meath under the social housing targets for local authorities that will be new units; the proportion that will be newly built homes, refurbished long-term voids, leasing agreements with private landlords under the rental accommodation scheme or long term leasing arrangements with landlords or developers. [15754/15]
View answer658. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the location of planned new housing units to be provided in County Louth. [15758/15]
View answer659. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the land banks that have been identified as suitable for the planned new social housing units in counties Louth and Meath; the number of units that will be constructed on each land bank; and the commencement and completion date for each. [15759/15]
View answer660. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of the planned 778 housing units for County Louth that will be constructed on the eight land banks zoned for social housing in the county. [15760/15]
View answer661. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide start and completion dates for proposed new build schemes for social housing units for counties Louth and Meath under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 and the social housing targets for local authorities. [15761/15]
View answer662. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown by local authority of the number of new social units to be constructed by local authorities year on year under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 and the social housing targets for local authorities. [15762/15]
View answer663. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown by local authority of the number of new social units to be constructed by private developers year on year under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 and the social housing targets for local authorities. [15763/15]
View answer664. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown by local authority of the number of new social units to be constructed by public-private partnerships year on year under the Social Housing Strategy 2020 and the social housing targets for local authorities. [15764/15]
View answer665. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if county managers and directors of services in local authorities have been briefed on the implementation of the Social Housing Strategy 2020 and the social housing targets for local authorities; if they have been instructed as to the number of housing units he expects will be provided by newly built homes, refurbished long-term voids, leasing agreements with private landlords under the rental accommodation scheme or long-term leasing arrangements with landlords or developers. [15765/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 648 to 654, inclusive, and 658 to 665, inclusive, together.
The Government’s Social Housing Strategy 2020 targets the delivery of over 35,000 new social housing units over the period to 2020. These targets are broken down in the Strategy between those that are current-funded, at 23,400 units, and those that are capital-funded, at 12,173 units.
The targets that I recently announced for all local authorities are for the period 2015- 2017 and include 7,483 units that will be capital-funded. These units will include those that will be constructed or acquired by local authorities through various means. Each local authority has responsibility for identifying their area’s social housing need and responding as required, including planning and undertaking new social housing developments to meet this need. Accordingly, the location and specific number of the units to be constructed through local authority managed contracts, the number to be acquired, the number to be constructed by private developers or public-private partnerships, the location of these developments, including land banks to be used, and the specific commencement and completion date for construction projects, are all matters in the first instance for the local authorities concerned.
Under the Social Housing Strategy, the opportunity to bring vacant or boarded-up social housing units back into productive use will continue to be supported, as a common-sense and value for money approach to the delivery of social housing units. The exact breakdown of such units that will be tackled out to 2017 cannot be specified at this point, as assessments of such stock are submitted annually by each local authority and vacant units to be remediated and brought back to use are quantified across all authorities at that point. For 2015, the number of such units targeted for Counties Louth and Meath, respectively, are 9 and 27.
Of the 778 units announced for County Louth for the period 2015 to 2017, a target of 288 units has been set for delivery under capital programmes and 490 units under current programmes. Of the 519 units announced for County Meath, the equivalent figures are 134 units under capital programmes and 385 units under current programmes. These breakdowns have been notified to the local authorities.
The number of additional social housing units that are targeted under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme, previously referred to as the Social Housing Leasing Initiative, to 2017 nationally under the Social Housing Strategy is 11,400. The number targeted in respect of Counties Louth and Meath are 443 and 284, respectively. However, it is important to highlight that the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme is a national fund without individual authority funding allocations. Where a local authority can exceed its target it should be possible to fund such additional units with the agreement of the Department.
The number of additional social housing units targeted under the Rental Accommodation Scheme nationally to 2017 under the Social Housing Strategy is 4,000. The number of such units targeted in respect of Counties Louth and Meath are 47 and 101, respectively.
Proposals already made by local authorities for the development of social housing units have been assessed and a first phase of announcements of initial project approvals will be made shortly. We are working with all local authorities to ensure that the projects proposed represent value for money and, in the case of capital-funded projects, are developed in compliance with the Capital Works Management Framework. I will be monitoring progress on delivery of units under the Social Housing Strategy and if satisfactory progress is not being made, I will reallocate funding between local authorities in order that national targets are achieved.
The targets that I announced illustrate once again that housing is of the highest priority for the Government. There are ambitious targets for each local authority and these will have a major impact for those on housing waiting lists, with a national reduction of 25% targeted over the period through these targets alone. I have met with representatives of a number of local authorities in recent months, as has my colleague Minister Coffey, in relation to social housing issues and I will continue that dialogue with other authorities in the months ahead.
