Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 November 2021
96. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the extent to which precise housing targets can be or are being met in each local authority by county; the degree to which progress is being made towards meeting the needs of those on local authority housing waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55074/21]
View answerThe recently published Housing for All strategy is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. Over 300,000 new homes will be built by the end of 2030, including a projected 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes.
Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the Land Development Agency and €5bn funding through the Housing Finance Agency.
Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes and 3,500 social homes through long-term leasing in the period 2022-2026. Individual targets for the delivery of social housing have been provided to each local authority for the period 2022 - 2026 and under Housing for All, each local authority is required to develop a Housing Delivery Action Plan by December 2021. These plans will set out details on how and when local authorities will deliver their social housing targets.
Details on social housing delivery for each local authority, across the various delivery mechanisms, are included in the social housing statistics published by my Department. This data allows for monitoring the progress of each local authority and is available to the end of Quarter 2 2021 on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/.
Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority administrative area are provided in the annual statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The most recent summary, conducted in November 2020, shows that 61,880 households were assessed as qualified for and being in need of social housing support. This represents a decrease of 6,813 households or 9.9% on the last assessment in June 2019. Since 2016, the numbers have decreased from 91,600 to 61,880, a reduction of 32.4%. It should also be noted that the SSHA is a point in time snapshot of the demand for social housing support in each local authority area and does not necessarily reflect the dynamic nature of entry to and exit from the housing waiting lists.
