Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 March 2021
94. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he expects Kildare County Council to have a plan to build houses for all of the applicants on its housing list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12443/21]
View answer96. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he has formulated plans for an annual sizeable reduction in the number of applicants on the Kildare County Council housing waiting list by way of a house building programme; if so, the number of applicants likely to be facilitated as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12445/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 94 and 96 together.
The delivery of housing supports is a key priority of Government and this is reflected in the Programme for Government commitment to increase the social housing stock nationally by more than 50,000, with a key emphasis on delivering new build homes. We are ambitious to ramp up the delivery at local authority level and we are committed to developing housing on public land.
My Department provides both capital and current funding to local authorities across a range of funding initiatives to assist them in providing homes for families and individuals on their social housing waiting lists. To provide transparency on the new social housing projects being advanced, my Department publishes a Social Housing Construction Status Report each quarter with details of all social housing developments completed or under construction in each local authority area. The report for Quarter 3 of 2020 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 report for 2020 will be published shortly. These quarterly reports provide details of the social housing construction schemes completed and those in the pipeline for County Kildare.
The Government investment for the delivery of all housing programmes this year is €3.3 billion which, subject to the impact of Covid-related restrictions on the construction sector, is intended to support the delivery of 12,750 new social homes through build, acquisition and leasing. The major focus of this investment is the delivery of new build social homes, with an overall target of 9,500 new homes, in addition to 800 acquisitions and 2,450 homes to be delivered through leasing programmes. Kildare County Council has been set a target to deliver 558 new build social homes and 153 homes through leasing in 2021.
The Government will be publishing a new housing strategy this year, which will set out details of social housing delivery out to 2025, including social housing targets for 2022 onwards. While Kildare County Council already has a social housing construction programme in train, I am keen that they are proactive in adding to this pipeline and, working with the Approved Housing Bodies, in advancing their existing projects as speedily as possible. The quarterly publication of the Social Housing Construction Status Report can also give Councillors and public representatives the opportunity to work with the local authority officials to press the advancement of these social housing delivery projects.
