Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 June 2018
1300. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if each approved construction, turnkey and large scale acquisition projects, that is, capital funded in 2015 and 2016 have been completed and occupied in accordance with Appendix 2 of Laying the Foundations: Housing Actions Report in April 2016, in tabular form. [24769/18]
View answerSince the publication in April 2016 of the Housing Action Report Laying the Foundations, Rebuilding Ireland has further increased the targets and the funding resources for the delivery of social housing. Critically, €6 billion in exchequer investment is now available for the delivery of 50,000 social housing units through build, refurbishment, acquisitions and leasing, over the period to 2021.
This funding is available to all local authorities to advance their social housing construction programmes, including projects detailed in appendix 2 of the Laying the Foundations report. Substantial additional construction projects have been added to the social housing delivery programme since then and with a view to greater transparency in this area, I publish, on a quarterly basis, a comprehensive status report of all the social housing construction schemes for all local authority areas. These reports show details such as the project locations and a range of information relating to their advancement, whether completed or on site or progressing through planning, design and construction and it includes projects approved in 2015 and 2016 and listed in appendix 2 of the Laying the Foundations report.
The most recent of these quarterly reports was published on 19 April 2018. It covers the period up to end Quarter 4 2017 and is available on the Rebuilding Ireland website at the following link: http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-murphy-publishes-social-housing-construction-status-report-q4-2017/.
The report shows a pipeline of over 13,400 social homes, a very substantial increase on the 8,430 homes in the pipeline a year earlier. At end-2017, almost 2,600 social homes were completed, with another 3,650 homes under construction, 1,900 homes about to go on site and the remaining 5,300 homes progressing through the various stages of planning, design and procurement.
The report covering the period to the end of Quarter 1 of 2018 is currently being compiled and will be published in the coming weeks. Further social housing project approvals are being added to the construction programme as they are developed by local authorities and approved housing bodies. I am keen that all local authorities advance their social housing projects as speedily as possible and I have assured them that funding is in place to support their activity in this regard.
