asked the Minister for Economic Planning and Development the form which the proposed reassessment of local authority housing needs, as outlined in the Green Paper, paragraph 5.21, will take; and when the results of the inquiry are expected.
Ceisteanna—Questions . Oral Answers . - Housing Needs .
8.
: The reassessment will consist mainly of a review of the housing applications made to local authorities. Regard will be had to the capacity of housing applicants to provide their own accommodation, wherever possible, with the aid of the substantially increased loans and grants for private house purchase provided by the Government. Account will also be taken of other factors such as the degree of urgency of need; the capital cost to the Exchequer; the level of continuing subsidy required and the availability of serviced sites.
The review will take some time. At this stage, I cannot say when it is likely to be completed.
: In view of the reference in the White Paper and in the Green Paper to more intense scrutiny of local authority housing allocations, does the Minister accept that it implies that the system is loose at present and that people are using the system unfairly?
: "Closer scrutiny" could also imply an analysis establish the extent to which they might be assisted to purchase houses of their own.
: Is the Minister aware that this area is under constant scrutiny by a housing committee and by a sub-committee of that housing committee whose primary problem is that there are not sufficient houses? To imply as he does in both Papers that there is need for closer scrutiny suggests that the work of these committees is open to critical appraisal.
: I cannot accept the inference in the Deputy's remarks. The point made displays a strong streak of conservatism in the Deputy in the sense that nothing is ever to be reviewed and everything is already functioning satisfactorily.
: Does the Minister envisage that the review to which he referred in his reply will involve drafting a new set of housing allocation priorities and the issuing of these priorities to local authorities?
: I do not wish to anticipate the findings of the study.
: I did not ask the Minister to anticipate. I asked him about the review, not the conclusion. Will the Minister's review include the drafting—my words are reasonably care-fully chosen—of a revised points' system in order to take account of the factors the Minister makes reference to in the White Paper which are not taken account of at the moment in schemes of allocation approved by the Minister's colleague, the Minister for the Environment? Do I take it from the nodding head that the answer is yes?
: Yes, I would not exclude that.
: Would that envisage a change in the legislation regarding the role of housing authorities?
: If I start to say I will not exclude a certain possibility, we will have a whole series of questions as to the consequential things which might or might not happen. It is sufficient for the purposes of answering the question to say a review is taking place.
: It is in company with all the other reviews.
: When is it expected to be concluded?