Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 11 Mar 1992

Vol. 417 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Dublin Housing Needs.

Mr. McCartan

I raise this urgent social problem not just as a representative of a Dublin city constituency but also as a member of Dublin City Council and chairman of the Housing Committee in that body, a position I took up last June, and which has brought home to me the seriousness of the situation.

In 1989 the then Minister for the Environment embarked on a project of establishing, over a three-year period from 1990 to 1993, the national housing needs throughout the country. Each local authority was requested to carry out a detailed survey and make returns to the Department of their estimate of the housing needs during the period. Dublin Corporation compiled such a report in response to circular letter H 13/89 and sent it to the Department of the Environment on 6 February 1991. I apologise for reciting figures because they are tedious, nonetheless in respect of Dublin they are startling. In the headings laid down by the Department of the Environment, Dublin Corporation provided the following statistics of the accumulated requirements at 30 June 1990 — the start-up period of the three-year review. The corporation indicated that 2,621 units were required and for the prospective needs of the city during the period 30 June 1990 to 30 June 1993 an additional 4,695 units would be required, giving a grand total for the operative period of 7,316. In addition the corporation was requested and advised the Department that of the existing housing stock 7,201 were in need of essential work to prevent serious deterioration, 157 were deemed to be totally unfit for habitation and 1,362 was the estimated number of overcrowded housing units, amounting to almost 9,000 units in addition to the figure of 7,316. If the total housing needs of the period are to be addressed the Minister will have to work towards dealing with 15,000 units.

In 1991 Dublin Corporation were allowed to build 80 houses. For the current year we have been advised that moneys will be made available to acquire or build 100 new units. We have been told that 50 of those must be allocated to Sheriff Street for the purposes of the continued expansion of the Custom House Docks development project. That means there will be 50 additional houses for the entire city of Dublin.

Bearing in mind the social housing programme published a year ago and the fact that no additional housing of any significance has been provided for under the programme because the legislation to give it teeth is still awaiting publication, brings the problem into sharp relief. In response Dublin City Council in January of this year unanimously passed a motion involving all parties, including Fianna Fáil, that Dublin City Council should be enabled to build a minimum of 400 houses per annum over the next five years to keep abreast of serious problems developing. The Minister was advised accordingly. The response was the paltry one I have outlined.

I acknowledge the Department are engaging in a programme of flat and house refurbishment, including areas in my own constituency. By and large that addresses a population already occupying those units and rarely, if ever, provides additional housing. I was advised in correspondence from the City Manager in February of this year that in Darndale estate in my own constituency, 150 families are on the housing list for that estate, whereas we have been informed that for the year as a whole the entire city will be allowed 100 additional units.

There is a major rift between our understanding of what the Minister is attempting to do and the Minister's understanding of what we need to do in Dublin to bridge that gap. I ask the Minister, as a matter of urgency, to meet with Dublin City Council, my committee, so that we can have a meeting of minds to examine the scale of the problem and the job that needs to be done. I hope the Minister will respond favourably.

Minister for the Environment (Mr. Smith)

The capital allocation notified to Dublin Corporation on 26 February last for their 1992 housing programme amounts to £12.89 million including expenditure on the provision of new housing and the refurbishment of existing local authority dwellings. This allocation represents an increase of 22 per cent on the corresponding figure of £10.584 million for 1991.

The result of the last statutory assessment of local authority housing needs showed that Dublin Corporation's needs had risen by 407 to 4,377 in the 18-month period since the previous assessment held on 30 September 1989. This figure, however, is a long way short of the level of the corporation's housing needs in the early eighties when they had over 6,700 approved applicants on their waiting list.

In 1991 the corporation provided 95 additional units of accommodation with a further 66 units in progress at year's end. This year's allocation authorised 100 new "starts" or acquisitions in 1992. In addition the allocation caters for a further 83 new "starts" or acquisitions authorised but not commenced in 1991.

The availability of local authority accommodation for renting to persons on the waiting list is not determined solely by the number of new units of accommodation provided annually. It is worth noting that during 1991 the corporation had a high level of casual vacancies which enabled them to make about 1,500 lettings from this source.

In dealing with capital for the local authority housing programme, the house building element of the programme cannot be treated in isolation. Cognisance must be taken of the funds being made available for the other elements as well. Dublin Corporation have been allocated £25 million to date under the remedial works scheme including £6.3 million this year. This scheme is particularly beneficial as units of accommodation are upgraded and become available for reletting to persons in need of housing.

Cognisance should also be taken of the increased contribution that my Department's voluntary housing scheme is now making towards social housing. It is anticipated that in 1992 upwards of 300 units of accommodation will be commenced in Dublin city under this scheme.

The needs of the corporation's house building programme must be seen against the significant reduction in demand in the corporation area since the eighties, the high level of casual vacancies still becoming available in the existing housing stock, and the level of expenditure on the remedial works scheme and the other elements of the local authority housing programme. The further schemes introduced in the social housing plan, such as the rental subsidy scheme, the improvement work/extension of private houses, and the shared ownership scheme are also available to the corporation and should be availed of to their full potential to address social housing needs in the city.

At the end of February, Dublin Corporation had received a total of 370 applications for the shared ownership system of which only 27 transactions had been approved in principle.

Housing authorities such as Dublin Corporation, including elected members, have a responsibility to ensure they discharge the new role given to them in the social housing plan. It is only at local level that the various measures in the plan can be promoted actively and used in combined ways that best meet local and individual circumstances.

In these circumstances and having regard to the fact that the capital available from the Public Capital Programme this year for the local authority housing programme nationally has been fully allocated I am not, therefore, in a position to increase the corporation's 1992 capital allocation.

I have, however, indicated on a number of occasions that I would be prepared to meet corporation and local authority members throughout the country on problems where we can try to address and solve problems relating to housing and, indeed, many other areas. In this context, I will make myself available to the corporation at the earliest possible opportunity.