Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 April 2021
480. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the funding his Department has allocated to each local authority for the purpose of maintenance and repairs of council houses in each of the past five years. [21737/21]
View answerThe management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966.
Notwithstanding the legal obligation on local authorities to manage and maintain their own stock, my Department does provide annual funding support to local authorities for management and maintenance under a number of funding programmes.
Under the Voids Programme, my Department has supported local authorities in refurbishing vacant social homes and returning them to productive use. This funding programme was introduced in 2014 and has to the end of 2020 returned 16,102 properties to use with funding of €229m from my Department.
In 2020, my Department rolled out the largest ever voids funding programme with additional funding of €40m secured by me under the July Stimulus Programme. Overall funding of €58.3m was made available to local authorities towards 3,607 vacant local authority homes last year.
Under the Energy Efficiency Programme, my Department funds the carrying out of retrofitting works to local authority dwellings. From 2013-2020 the Programme was implemented in 2 Phases: Phase 1 Attic Insulation/Cavity Wall Insulation and Phase 2 focuses on the fabric upgrades to dwellings. Over the period 2013 to 2020 over 73,500 units of social housing stock have been retrofitted with a total exchequer spend of €161m under the scheme (most of which were completed under Phase 1).
Under the Disabled Persons Grant Scheme, my Department funds local authorities in carrying out necessary adaptation works to local authority properties to cater for the needs of elderly and disabled tenants and families living in overcrowded conditions in local authority properties. Since 2011 my Department has provided exchequer funding of some €120m to support this programme.
Under the Regeneration Scheme, my Department funds programmes of estate regeneration in a number of targeted areas around the country. These projects seek to address the causes of disadvantage in these communities through a holistic programme of physical, social and economic regeneration. Projects being funded under the Programme target the country’s most disadvantaged communities, including those defined by the most extreme social exclusion, unemployment and anti-social behaviour. Since 2015 over €300m of exchequer funding has been provided to support this programme.
Since 2011 my Department has provided funding of over €800m under the above stock improvement schemes.
It is important to note that my Department and local authorities are working to transition from a largely response and voids based approach to housing stock management and maintenance to a planned maintenance approach. This will require the completion of stock condition surveys by all local authorities and the subsequent development of strategic and informed work programmes in response. My Department will support these work programmes by ensuring that the funding available under various stock improvement programmes support this approach.
