James Browne
Question:37. Deputy James Browne asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his plans to address the lack of housing in County Wexford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8185/19]
View answerWednesday, 20 February 2019
Questions (37)
Written answers
The provision of housing, whether it be social, affordable or private is a top priority for this Government. Under Rebuilding Ireland, the Government is making over €6 billion available to deliver 50,000 social housing homes nationally, through build, refurbishment, acquisitions and leasing, over the period to 2021. In addition, some 88,000 households are to be supported under the Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Scheme. Good progress is being made and to date under Rebuilding Ireland, over 72,000 households have had their housing needs met nationally.
In Wexford, delivery against social housing targets has been strong and the statistics for each local authority’s 2018 delivery, which are being published today, show that Wexford County Council supported 920 additional households in 2018 and exceeded its overall target of 627 for the year, as well as its specific target of 231 for the build, acquisition and leasing of new social homes. This progress can also be measured in the number of households on Wexford’s waiting list, which has reduced by 15% between 2017 and 2018. While those achievements are very positive, more remains to be done and I will shortly be writing to all local authorities, including Wexford County Council, setting out their individual targets for social housing for 2019.
In the important area of new social housing build, Wexford County Council, in conjunction with Approved Housing Bodies, has over 300 further new social homes that are either on site or in planning and procurement. This is in addition to what has been delivered already up to the end of 2018. My Department will continue to work with the Council to support the further expansion of their build programme and their wider delivery of social housing supports to households on their waiting list.
In terms of housing overall, just over 18,000 dwelling completions nationally were recorded by the CSO in 2018, up 25% on the previous year. 485 of these were in Wexford, which was a 38% increase on the 352 recorded in 2017.
Question No. 38 answered with Question No. 26.