Targets in respect of social housing delivery via a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes, were set for each local authority out to 2017 and are available on my Department’s website, along with the associated provisional funding allocations, at the following link: http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentHousing/Housing/News/MainBody,41016,en.htm.
As part of these targets, almost €87 million has been allocated to Kildare County Council for the delivery of 1,283 social housing units.
It is a matter in the first instance for the Council to identify projects, across all approaches, to deliver social housing as soon as possible. I am keen that all local authorities, including Kildare County Council, advance these projects and I have assured them that funding is available to support their efforts in this regard, including construction and acquisition projects.
Following the notification of targets to Kildare County Council and other local authorities in April 2015, approvals for a substantial number of new social housing projects were announced in May 2015, July 2015 and January 2016. Between these three announcements, almost €680 million has been allocated for over 3,900 social housing new builds, turnkey developments and acquisitions. Details of these project approvals, including for Kildare, are 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
While social housing construction projects are being advanced, acquisitions of new and second-hand houses and apartments remain an effective means of meeting immediate social housing need. In 2015, Kildare County Council secured the purchase of 79 housing units and to date this year, have completed the purchases of a further 47 additional units for social housing purposes. Some of these acquisitions, as well as some of the approved construction projects, were under the Capital Assistance Scheme whereby approved housing bodies deliver social housing for those with specific needs such as elderly people, persons with intellectual or physical disability and homeless persons.
In 2015, my Department provided over €12.1 million to Kildare County Council for the delivery of new social housing units, under both construction and acquisition programmes and the figure to date in 2016 is in excess of €8.3 million. In addition to the funding provided by my Department, Kildare County Council also contributes significant levels of funding from their own resources for the delivery of units.
The delivery of new social housing units through a public private partnership (PPP) model is also being pursued. The PPP programme will have an investment of €300 million to deliver 1,500 social housing units and it is being rolled-out in three bundles. The first bundle of the PPP sites, to provide over 500 new housing units, was announced in October 2015 and covers six sites, one of which is to deliver some 75 units at Craddockstown, Naas, County Kildare.
The measures in the new Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness will ramp up delivery of housing from its current under-supply across all tenures and provide for new targets, funding and reforms to achieve the plan’s ambitious objectives. The Action Plan is available at www.rebuildingireland.ie.
