Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2017
1264. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the extent to which funding is available to Kildare County Council to address the local authority housing issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33663/17]
View answerRebuilding Ireland has put in place the funding resources to accelerate the delivery of social housing for all local authorities, including Kildare County Council. Critically, €5.35 billion in exchequer investment has been secured to support its implementation and to deliver 47,000 social housing units through build, refurbishment, acquisitions and leasing, over the period to 2021.
This level of national funding to implement Rebuilding Ireland's targets means that funding is available to Kildare County Council, and to other local authorities, to advance their housing delivery. Evidence of this can be seen in the Status Report on Social Housing Construction Projects, the latest of which is available at the following link: http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/social-housing-construction-projects-report-2017/. It includes 17 construction projects of various scale in County Kildare, delivering 301 new social homes. These projects are at various stages of advancement and there has been no funding delay.
In tandem with the construction programme, all local authorities have been undertaking the targeted acquisition of properties and from January 2016 to date, over €30 million has been provided to Kildare County Council to purchase over 180 new social homes. The local authority has also benefitted from funding to return vacant and derelict social housing to use, with 95 such units supported through an investment of €1.65 million from 2014-16.
Kildare County Council has 307 further social homes supplied, as at end of Q2 2017, under my Department's Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme. The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme is currently meeting the housing needs of some 1,200 households in Kildare, with an additional 16 households being supported each week. From January 2016 to date, funding in excess of €9.9 million was recouped to Kildare under the Rental Accommodation Scheme. Kildare County Council also has a target to deliver 31 new social homes as part of the national 2017 target of 800 units under the Repair and Leasing Scheme.
I am keen that Kildare County Council brings forward and advances social housing projects as speedily as possible and I have assured all local authorities that funding is in place to support their activity in this regard in 2017 and beyond.
