Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 February 2021
331. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of persons on the housing list in the Carrigaline, Crosshaven, Passage West local electoral area; and the number of social and affordable houses scheduled to be built in the next 12 months in the area in tabular form. [7069/21]
View answerMy Department publishes details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in the annual Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The SSHA provides details of the numbers of households across a number of categories but does not include a breakdown by electoral area. The most recently published SSHA relates to data in June 2019 and shows that the number of households on the housing waiting list for Cork County was 2,533. The report is available at the following link https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/29da7-summary-of-social-housing-assessments-2019-key-findings/
My Department also publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on all social housing delivery activity. This is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/ . The most recent data is for Quarter 3 2020. The data for Quarter 4 2020 is being compiled and the report will be published as soon as it is available.
My Department has also published the Quarter 3 2020 Social Housing Construction Status Report, which provides details of all social housing developments under construction in each local authority. The report is available at the following link: https://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-obrien-publishes-social-housing-construction-status-report-for-q2-2020-2/. The Quarter 4 2020 report is being compiled and will be published as soon as it is available. The Report identifies the quarter in which local authority social housing construction projects started on site, including those that started in the preceding 12 months. Projects identified in the Report as at 'Stage 4 approved or Final Turnkey/CALF approval' have been approved by my Department and will start on site in 2021 (or may have started in Q4 of 2020), subject to restrictions arising from the response to Covid-19.
In relation to affordable housing, I published the Affordable Housing Bill 2020 on 20 January 2021, which provides for the introduction of three schemes delivering on the Programme for Government commitment to put affordability at the heart of the housing system. These schemes will enhance the supply of affordable homes on local authority lands, deliver a new affordable purchase shared equity scheme and provide for the introduction of a new form of tenure in Cost Rental.
Affordable homes on local authority land are to be made available through the support of the €310 million Serviced Sites Fund (SSF). To date, nine projects have been granted SSF approval in principle in Cork City and Cork County. This includes the development at Boherboy in Cork City which will deliver the first phase of affordable homes later this year. Affordable homes delivered under the SSF will be made available at ‘purchase prices‘ of between 10% and 40% on open market values. The discount provided will remain as a fully-repayable equity charge against the property. All applications from local authorities must demonstrate that there is an affordability challenge in their area and that they can deliver affordable housing at least 10% below market value.
The details of 35 SSF projects that have been granted approval can be found at the following links:
https://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-murphy-gives-the-go-ahead-for-ten-local-authority-sites-for-affordable-housing-under-the-serviced-sites-fund/, and
https://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-murphy-approves-funding-of-e84m-to-support-delivery-of-1770-affordable-homes-under-the-ssf/.
