asked the Minister for Local Government if he will give details in respect of each county council regarding the payment of the two-thirds subsidy on loan charges in respect of local authority houses, in relation to the rehousing of subtenants in council houses, indicating (a) the date on which the full subsidy was discontinued generally, (b) if any instructions were sent to county councils indicating that there was a limit to the number of houses which should be erected, and (c) if any county councils have since 1955 submitted housing proposals for approval which would attract the one-third subsidy on loan charges.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Subsidy on Housing Loan Charges.
21.
The statistics available in my Department are not in a form which would enable the details sought by the Deputy to be compiled without an inordinate amount of time and research. An analysis of lettings of cottages erected by county councils between June, 1958, and March, 1962, and in respect of which letting certificates had been submitted to my Department, showed that approximately 95 per cent qualified for the payment of subsidy at the rate of 66? per cent of subsidisable loan charges.
As regards (a), section 14 of the Housing (Amendment) Act, 1958, provided for the increase from 60 per cent to 66? per cent in the rate of subsidy in respect of dwellings provided by county councils after 30th June, 1958, for families displaced from their previous accommodation by operations of the county council under the Housing Acts. The section also provided for the payment of the higher subsidy towards the rehousing of families, including families previously living as subtenants in labourers' cottages, on medical, compassionate or other similar grounds where the circumstances of the persons concerned would not permit them to be rehoused without the aid of such subsidy. The answer to (b) is in the negative. As regards (c), while no schemes were formulated by county councils specifically as schemes in respect of which subsidy at the rate of 33? per cent would be payable, it will be seen from my reply to the first part of the Question that that rate of subsidy applied to a relatively small number of the dwellings provided by county councils in the course of their normal building programmes since June, 1958, the date from which the differential subsidy system became applicable in rural areas.
Is the Minister aware that very few local authorities are prepared to submit proposals for the housing of people who will qualify for only one-third subsidy, even though quite a number of the people concerned are living in conditions which are such that natural justice would require they should be rehoused? Can the Minister do anything to remedy that position?
If they do not put up proposals, there is not a great deal that I can do.
The Minister would not suggest that they should?
Why should he?