Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 May 2015
575. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of social houses built in County Clare between 1997 and 2015, in tabular form, by year and by location, including those built by the local authority, private developers and housing associations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18299/15]
View answerMy Department collates and publishes a wide range of housing and planning statistics that inform the preparation and evaluation of policy. It includes data on the number of units provided by local authorities and approved housing bodies (under the voluntary and co-operative heading), broken down by year, and those data are available on my Department’s website at: http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/HousingStatistics/FileDownLoad,15291,en.xls, by clicking “Social Housing Outputs” under the Social Housing Supports heading.
The data does not record who builds particular social houses but it is highly likely that private developers are contracted to build the vast majority of same. For example, all direct build social housing projects by local authorities are put out to tender as part of a public procurement process.
Social housing is key priority for this Government, evidenced by the additional €2.2 billion in funding announced for it in Budget 2015 and the publication of the Social Housing Strategy 2020 in November 2014. The total targeted 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 circa 90,000 households on the housing waiting list.
The social housing targets that I recently announced for all local authorities are out to 2017 and include almost 7,500 units that will be capital-funded and 15,400 current-funded units. My announcement also contained provisional funding allocations which are sufficient to deliver the targeted units.
Following on from the target setting process, on 5 May 2015, I announced the first major direct build social housing programme under the Social Housing Strategy, with over 100 separate housing projects across all 31 local authorities. Details are available on my Department’s website at the following link: http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentHousing/Housing/News/MainBody,41340,en.htm.
