Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 June 2016
56. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to increase funding for capital expenditure for house building to local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13011/16]
View answerThe future capital funding provision for the delivery of social housing will be determined in the context of the 2017 Estimates process and will be informed by the forthcoming ‘Action Plan on Housing’, which I am currently preparing. The Action Plan will seek to address the challenges in the housing sector in a targeted and meaningful way. In this regard, my Department is examining ways to accelerate, and exceed where possible, the delivery of the targets under the Social Housing Strategy.
Currently in overall terms, €933 million, which is broken down between €528 million capital funding and €405 million current funding, is being made available for social housing programmes in 2016. This funding will support the targeting of 17,000 new social units through a range of delivery programmes. The capital programmes will support a combination of construction projects that are being advanced, the acquisition of units which are being actively pursued for quick delivery of social housing and returning vacant social units to productive use. This funding also provides other important improvements to existing social housing stock, through programmes such as regeneration, adaptation grants for people with a disability and the elderly, and energy efficiency upgrades to homes.
Information on the capital-funded social housing projects approved to date, to the value of almost €680 million for over 3,900 social housing new builds, turnkey developments and acquisitions, is available on my Department’s website at the following links:
http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentHousing/Housing/News/MainBody,41340,en.htm
http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentHousing/Housing/News/MainBody,42225,en.htm
http://www.environ.ie/housing/social-housing/ministers-kelly-coffey-announce-further-1000-social-housing-units.
It should be noted that funding made available from the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) supports the delivery of social housing by providing financial support to local authorities for the long term leasing of houses and apartments from private owners, developers and approved housing bodies. Properties made available under the programme are used to accommodate households from local authority waiting lists. Leased properties are allocated to tenants, in accordance with the relevant local authority’s allocation scheme.
