Terence Flanagan
Question:24. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to tackle the social housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15561/15]
View answerThursday, 23 April 2015
Questions (24)
Written answers
Social housing is a key priority for Government, as evidenced by the additional €2.2 billion in funding announced in Budget 2015 and the publication of the Social Housing Strategy 2020 in November, 2014. The targeted social housing provision of over 110,000 social housing units, through the delivery of 35,000 new social housing units and meeting the housing needs of some 75,000 households through the Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Scheme, will address the needs of the 90,000 households on the housing waiting list in full, with flexibility to meet potential future demand. The Strategy will be delivered in two phases. Phase 1 targets the delivery of 18,000 additional housing units and 32,400 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) units, by the end of 2017. In phase 2, spanning the years 2018 to 2020, the strategy targets the delivery of 17,000 additional units and 43,000 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) units.
The Social Housing Strategy 2020 is available on my Department’s website at the following link:http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,39622,en.pdf.
The overall targets in the Social Housing Strategy were developed having regard to the nature and scale of social housing need, taking account of analysis of the most recent statutory Assessment of Housing Need which was carried out by the Housing Agency. The social housing targets for each local authority area out to 2017 that I recently announced are fully in line with the targets of the Social Housing Strategy. Targets identified for individual local authorities were determined in consideration of the potential impact that delivery over 2015–2017 would have on social housing need as evidenced by local authority waiting lists recorded in the most recent statutory Assessment of Housing Need. The target setting process also took account of specific housing unit targets and building projects out to 2017 proposed by each local authority.
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, which will have a major impact for those on the housing waiting lists, with a national reduction of 25% targeted over the period through these targets alone.
In terms of monitoring progress against these targets into the future, including the impact on housing need, it is important to note that the governance of the Social Housing Strategy includes robust monitoring and review arrangements. Specifically, a review of the Strategy will take place in 2017 to assess overall progress. In addition, we will carry out housing needs assessments on an annual basis from 2016 which will support the continuous monitoring of social housing delivery against need.