I propose to take Questions Nos. 2938 and 2967 together.
The three current expenditure funded housing schemes, the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP), the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), are critical components of the accelerated delivery of social housing envisaged under the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness.
The annual cost of the three schemes to the Exchequer is made up of the continuing cost of supporting the tenancies and contracts in place at the end of the previous year, and the additional cost of the new tenancies and contracts supported over the course of the year to which the allocation relates.
SHCEP supports the delivery of social housing by providing financial support to local authorities for the long term leasing of houses and apartments from private owners, developers and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). Properties made available under the programme are used to accommodate households from local authority waiting lists.
Details on the number of SHCEP agreements supported by my Department in 2015 to Q1 2019 are published on my Department’s website at the following link:
http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.
Expenditure in respect of SHCEP for the years 2015-2018, broken down by local authority, is detailed in the table. Exchequer funding of €154.886m has been allocated to SHCEP in 2019.
At the end of Q1 2019, there were 45,915 active tenancies being supported by the HAP scheme. A breakdown of the number of households supported by HAP in each local authority area, from when the scheme began in 2014 to end 2018, is available on my Department’s website at the following link:
http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.
The Exchequer outturns for the HAP scheme in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 were €15.6m, €57.7m, €152.7m and €276.6m, respectively. Exchequer funding of €422m has been made available for the HAP scheme in 2019.
Limerick City and County Council provides a HAP transactional shared service on behalf of all local authorities. This HAP Shared Services Centre (SSC) manages all HAP related rental transactions for the tenant, local authority and landlord. Accordingly, my Department does not recoup individual local authorities in respect of HAP rental payments in their administrative areas but rather recoups all landlord costs via the HAP SSC.
RAS places responsibility on local authorities to meet the accommodation needs of people in receipt of Rent Supplement for 18 months or longer, and who are assessed as having a long-term housing need. In the period since RAS commenced in 2005 to the end of March 2019, some 62,543 households have been transferred from Rent Supplement to RAS and other social housing options. Of this number 35,458 were housed directly under RAS.
RAS remains a significant part of the suite of social housing options available to local authorities and to those who are assessed as being in need of housing support.
At the end of Q1 2019, there were 18,697 active tenancies being supported by the RAS scheme in the 31 local authority areas. Data for the years 2011 to 2018 on the number and cost of tenancies funded under the RAS scheme, broken down by local authority, is available on my Department's website at the following link:
https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.
Exchequer funding of €134 million has been provided to support the cost of RAS in 2019 and this funding will go towards supporting 600 additional RAS tenancies in 2019 and the ongoing cost of supporting continuing RAS contracts in place at the end of 2018.
The 2020 budgetary provision for specific housing programmes will be determined in the context of the forthcoming estimates process.
Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) Expenditure paid to Local Authorities in 2015 to 2018
Local Authority
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
CARLOW
|
530,205
|
585,327
|
1,302,249
|
1,494,692
|
CAVAN
|
64,493
|
196,193
|
428,427
|
429,447
|
CLARE
|
882,570
|
1,595,479
|
1,989,287
|
3,166,133
|
CORK CITY
|
1,107,646
|
1,771,180
|
2,219,141
|
2,143,900
|
CORK COUNTY
|
3,712,136
|
4,203,863
|
4,522,657
|
5,351,670
|
DONEGAL
|
1,248,328
|
1,067,305
|
2,076,634
|
1,753,686
|
DUBLIN CITY
|
7,388,093
|
10,345,395
|
14,840,312
|
18,425,754
|
DUN LAOGHAIRE/RATHDOWN
|
1,768,110
|
2,094,115
|
4,597,875
|
4,818,731
|
FINGAL
|
3,385,519
|
4,666,247
|
6,547,004
|
9,141,183
|
GALWAY CITY
|
1,607,240
|
2,315,093
|
3,589,992
|
3,490,991
|
GALWAY COUNTY
|
385,394
|
346,807
|
833,507
|
1,041,490
|
KERRY
|
668,351
|
935,162
|
2,106,983
|
2,226,036
|
KILDARE
|
1,550,610
|
1,430,712
|
3,634,286
|
4,943,910
|
KILKENNY
|
737,465
|
740,649
|
908,544
|
1,106,610
|
LAOIS
|
585,566
|
1,190,925
|
1,511,241
|
1,778,870
|
LEITRIM
|
9,093
|
65,473
|
77,468
|
72,194
|
LIMERICK
|
270,920
|
504,557
|
719,490
|
1,406,309
|
LONGFORD
|
147,813
|
356,011
|
515,178
|
642,712
|
LOUTH
|
2,646,597
|
3,046,688
|
3,610,161
|
6,315,022
|
MAYO
|
790,964
|
856,278
|
945,590
|
1,057,694
|
MEATH
|
1,211,043
|
1,138,730
|
2,754,186
|
4,469,123
|
MONAGHAN
|
2,262
|
44,782
|
168,962
|
355,335
|
OFFALY
|
943,158
|
1,358,477
|
1,957,083
|
1,920,541
|
ROSCOMMON
|
25,901
|
33,549
|
34,590
|
181,075
|
SLIGO
|
278,926
|
340,996
|
349,787
|
444,775
|
SOUTH DUBLIN
|
5,631,522
|
6,245,168
|
12,861,316
|
11,719,742
|
TIPPERARY
|
1,742,186
|
1629455
|
2,597,202
|
2,498,480
|
WATERFORD
|
691,391
|
1,078,131
|
1,306,809
|
1,808,655
|
WESTMEATH
|
1,128,189
|
2,006,539
|
1,714,383
|
2,093,392
|
WEXFORD
|
689,804
|
1,228,254
|
1,910,528
|
2,493,382
|
WICKLOW
|
318,744
|
576,482
|
938,929
|
965,785
|
TOTAL
|
42,150,239
|
53,997,022
|
83,569,801
|
99,757,319
|