Niamh Smyth
Question:39. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the progress being made on reducing the social housing waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38907/18]
View answerThursday, 27 September 2018
Questions (39)
Written answers
Under Rebuilding Ireland, a total of 50,000 social housing homes will be delivered through build, acquisition and leasing programmes. In addition to this, 87,000 additional households will be supported through the Housing Assistance Payment Scheme (HAP) and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS).
The combination of 50,000 social housing homes and 87,000 HAP and RAS social housing supports, which are being funded by the Government in the period 2016 to 2021, means that over 137,000 long term and flexible options will be made available to those on housing waiting lists under Rebuilding Ireland.
The Government, working with the local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and other delivery agents, is already exceeding the delivery targets set for the first two years of Rebuilding Ireland. Of the combined target of 137,000 referred to above, just under 45,000 households have had their housing need met by the end of year 2 of the Rebuilding Ireland Plan – 33% of those targeted under the 6 year Plan as a whole.
In 2017, 25,901 households had their housing need met, with some 7,095 of these properties delivered through the build/acquisition and long-term leasing mechanisms.
Data relating to overall social housing delivery in 2017 and to end Q2 2018, across all local authorities, is published on my Department's website at the following link:
https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.
In 2018, I expect to see at least 25,500 households having their housing need met. I have advised all local authorities of their minimum social housing targets across build, acquisition and lease both for 2018 and also for the multi-annual period to 2021, details of which can be accessed on the Rebuilding Ireland website at:
http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-murphy-publishes-social-housing-delivery-targets-for-local-authorities-2018-2021/.
Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority area are provided in the statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA) which has been carried out on an annual basis since 2016. The results of each SSHA are available on my Department’s website and include breakdowns by each local authority across a range of categories. Full details in relation to the 2018 assessment are available on my Department's website at the following link
https://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/publications/files/summary_of_social_housing_assessments_2018_-_key_findings.pdf
This shows a decrease of 16.2% from SSHA 2017, with the number of qualified households recorded on local authority lists dropping from 85,799 in 2017 to 71,858 this year. This follows on from a reduction from 2016 into 2017, when the number of qualified households on local authority lists reduced from 91,600 to 85,799 a reduction of 6.3%. Overall, the progress made in the first two years of Rebuilding Ireland has resulted in the number of qualified households on local authority lists reducing by a cumulative 22%.