Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 September 2021
192. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of reports that have been provided to him in the past 12 months from the Housing Agency; the titles of these reports; if he has received reports that he has not published; and if so, if he plans to publish these reports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47345/21]
View answerThe Housing Agency works with my Department and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in the delivery of housing and housing services. A key part of the Agency's work is to act as a centre of expert knowledge on housing and to support housing policy development through research work and collaboration with key stakeholders.
In this regard the following reports were produced and published by the Agency in the past 12 months:
- Review of Part V of the Planning & Development Act
- Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2020
- Roadmapping a Viable Community-Led Housing Sector for Ireland, and
- Review of Local Authority Social Workers and Personnel Employed to Assist Travellers with their Accommodation Needs.
The Agency has an important role in supporting my Department in developing various aspects of housing policy. To this end they produced two research papers over the past year in the area of Income Eligibility for Social Housing as follows:
- Review of Income Eligibility for Social Housing Support, and
- Social Housing Income Eligibility – International Comparisons.
These were not published as they are contributions to an ongoing deliberative and policy analysis process in my Department.
My Department also routinely engages with the Agency to produce reviews and analysis that are technical and operational in nature. Such reports are not published. Two such reports were produced by the Agency in the past 12 months as follows:
- AHB Operational Cost Review-Analysis and Proposed Framework for P&A-CALF Funding, and
- Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Governance Review.
