Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 January 2017
119. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will review the extent to which under present circumstances he can augment the local authority house building programme given the increased incidence of homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2322/17]
View answer120. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to outline the extent to which he can foresee the implementation of a major emergency house building programme to address the needs of countless families currently homeless or due to become homeless as a result of repossessions in respect of buy-to-let properties or family homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2324/17]
View answer122. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to outline the extent to which he remains assured that adequate suitable and serviced building lands remain available in each local authority area to facilitate house building in line with requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2326/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 119, 120 and 122 together.
The publication of Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, has seen a new level of ambition in respect of tackling the housing crises and I am confident it represents a well judged and comprehensive response to the urgent need for social housing and to respond to the need for an increased general housing supply.
To support the ambitious target of 47,000 new social housing units, I have secured €5.35 billion in exchequer investment over the period to 2021. This comprises some €4.5 billion in capital funding and €844 million in support of programmes funded from current expenditure.
A strong pipeline of social housing build projects is now in place. Taking the main local authority housing construction programme as an example, there are now some 255 projects, including 20 turnkey projects, at various stages in the programme, with a capacity to deliver over 4,000 new social homes. These range from large-scale new developments to smaller, infill projects. On rapid builds projects, 350 units are now advancing through various stages of delivery, including construction, across a number of Dublin sites and this will be added to with an additional 650 units this year, with a further 500 units following in 2018. Under the Capital Assistance Scheme, there are over 100 Approved Housing Body projects in the pipeline, which will deliver around 1,000 units. As a further example, under the PPP programme, nearly 1,000 new social units are now in planning with local authorities.
The momentum of approvals will continue in 2017 in order to add to the pipeline and provide the basis for delivering on the increased Rebuilding Ireland targets. Data in relation to the full pipeline of projects is being updated at present and the intention is that this will be finalised and published in conjunction with the next Rebuilding Ireland quarterly implementation report in the coming weeks.
This is in addition to current-funded programmes, such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme, Housing Assistance Payment and various leasing arrangements under my Department’s Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme. Again properties sourced under these programmes are used to accommodate persons on the local authority housing waiting lists, including those in emergency accommodation or at risk of homelessness.
While the construction programme is being advanced, I have also strongly supported local authorities in the acquisition of new and previously owned houses/apartments. In 2016, I provided over €175 million to local authorities for such acquisitions and these approaches are delivering early social housing solutions for people in need of social housing.
Rebuilding Ireland contains a number of integrated actions to underpin active land supply management for the delivery of housing. Initially, this involves identifying and mapping sites in local authority and public ownership with appropriate lands to be master-planned to deliver increased mixed-tenure housing, including social and more affordable homes, to meet demand.
The Housing Agency, in close consultation with my Department and local authorities, has already commenced the mapping of approximately 700 sites in local authority ownership and those held by the Agency under the Land Aggregation Scheme, showing their location, size, boundaries and other information.
This map will form part of the broader National Land Supply Management Strategy (as committed to under Action 3.5 of Rebuilding Ireland), which is being developed within the context of the National Planning Framework (NPF). In this regard, an initial public consultation process will commence later this month with the aim of finalising the NPF later in 2017. Once collated, the map will be made available, and will be updated to record the development and use of these lands.
With regard to the availability of land in private ownership, the Residential Land Availability Survey 2014, which is available on my Department’s website at the following link: http://www.housing.gov.ie/planning/development-zones/residential-land-availability, indicated that there was 17,434 hectares of residential zoned lands nationally which could theoretically enable the construction of over 414,000 dwellings. The mapped results of the survey are available on my Department’s website at the following link: http://environmentgovie.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=58f92f0517fc4ee0956f8933afc40719. A further Residential Land Availability Survey will be undertaken in due course.
A suite of actions is being implemented under Rebuilding Ireland, building on actions already underway, to ensure these sites are activated, to increase the supply of homes, at a far greater scale and at more generally affordable prices and rents. For example, targeted reductions in development contribution requirements have been introduced and €200m in State funding is being provided for key enabling infrastructure, through the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund.
In this regard, in November 2016, under Pillar 3 of Rebuilding Ireland, I announced details of 23 Major Urban Housing Development Sites, with the potential to deliver up to 30,000 additional homes on existing zoned lands and close to the key areas of demand over the next 3-4 years. These sites will be highlighted as exemplars for the co-ordination and delivery of plan-led housing development and active land management. Further details on these sites can be accessed here: http://rebuildingireland.ie/build-more-homes/.
