Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 April 2023
74. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps he is taking in response to contract restrictions preventing the sale of properties to local authorities or approved housing bodies for social housing. [18457/23]
View answerUnder 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. Our clear focus is to increase the stock of social housing through new build projects delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs).
For 2023, the Government has agreed that there will be increased provision for social housing acquisitions and my Department will fund local authorities to acquire up to 1,500 social homes. The additional acquisitions will be focused on properties where a tenant in receipt of social housing supports has received a Notice of Termination due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property. My Department issued a circular letter to all local authorities in March, setting out details of these arrangements and each local authority was provided with a provisional allocation for social housing acquisitions in 2023. This allocation will be kept under review.
My Department is working closely with the local authorities on the delivery of social housing acquisitions. My Department is not aware of any instances where a local authority or Approved Housing Body has been prevented by from acquiring a property for social housing due to contract restrictions. For example, The Housing Agency has purchased hundreds of apartments over several years, in its own capacity and on trust for local authorities, and the Agency has informed my Department that it not been prevented from acquiring an apartment by a contract restriction preventing the owner from selling their apartment for social housing use. However, I am aware of the recent media coverage of one specific case and my Department will keep this matter under review.
Details of social housing acquisitions will be published as part of the comprehensive programme level statistics published by my Department on a quarterly basis. This data is available for all local authorities to the end of Quarter 4 2022 and is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/.
