Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 July 2015
45. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he is aware of the current expected shortfall in the housing and homelessness budgets for Dublin City Council; his plans for the allocation of additional funding and the estimated target for delivery of housing in Dublin; and the type of housing that will be provided. [29004/15]
View answerAmbitious targets for social housing delivery, along with matching funding allocations, were set by me in April last, when I announced targets for the delivery of social housing for all local authorities to 2017. As part of this announcement, Dublin City Council was set a target of 3,347 social housing units, supported by a provisional funding allocation of €292m, to be invested in a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes to accommodate people on the housing waiting list.
In that context, on 5 May 2015, I announced a major social housing construction programme, involving €312m of investment, comprising some 100 projects and 1,700 housing units nationally. This included 167 new units in Dublin City, both apartments and houses, at a cost of over €35m. Full details, including specifics of the projects to be progressed, the funding allocated and the number of units to be delivered across all local authorities, are available on my Department's website at the following link: http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentHousing/Housing/News/MainBody,41340,en.htm.
I stated at the time that this announcement was part of the first phase of direct-build projects under the Government's Social Housing Strategy and that further assessments are being carried out which will result in the approval of additional projects shortly.
With regard to funding for accommodation and related services for the homeless, a 2015 allocation of €37.16 million has been confirmed for the Dublin Region. This is an increase of 19% on the region's initial allocation (of €31.32 million) in 2014 and represents over 70% of all the funding allocated to housing authorities nationally. My Department is in active and ongoing discussions with the Dublin authorities regarding the extent of their possible additional funding requirements in 2015 and this issue will be addressed toward the end of Quarter 3 in the light of expenditure actually incurred at that stage.
