Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 October 2015
735. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of homes that have been acquired by local authorities through the part V scheme over the past year; and the number he projects for 2016. [34645/15]
View answerMy Department collates and publishes a wide range of housing statistics that inform the preparation and evaluation of policy. Data on the number of social housing units, that were delivered through the provisions under Part V, broken down by year and location, are included within this range, and are available on my Department’s website at : http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/HousingStatistics/FileDownLoad,15291,en.xls on the “Part V Scheme 2002 to date ” link under the “ Pathways to Home Ownership including Part V ” heading.
Informed by an extensive public consultation process and an independent, in-depth review of the operation of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, a number of amendments to Part V were included in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 which came into force on 1 September 2015. One of the principal objectives of the 2015 amendments is to maximise the opportunity for the delivery of social housing units. The transfer of land remains the default option but the option of providing a cash payment in lieu of housing has been removed, as has the option of providing sites or land elsewhere.
My Department has advised local authorities of the commencement of the new Part V provisions and requirements. The new Part V arrangements can be retrospectively applied to existing planning permissions where works have not commenced. With the consent of the developer and the local authority, Part V agreements reached on foot of the previous Part V provisions may now be renegotiated in line with the amendments contained in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015. The new Part V provisions are a key component of the range of delivery mechanisms required to achieve the targets set out in the Government’s Social Housing Strategy 2020 .
On the assumption that total housing output will increase gradually over the coming years, my Department estimates that in the region of 4,000 additional social housing units will be delivered by 2020 through the Part V mechanism.
