Vol. 511 No. 6
311 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he will give a breakdown of the £6 billion allocation in the national development plan for the provision of social and affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24905/99]
The Government is committed to ensuring that the housing needs of an expanding and changing population are met in a comprehensive fashion and has therefore included housing in the national development plan for the first time.
The three priorities for investment in housing under the plan are: to provide the necessary infrastructural investment to facilitate the overall level of housing output required to meet the current and anticipated levels of demand; to increase social housing output to meet rising need; and to continue the drive to improve the physical condition of our social housing stock.
The plan provides the framework for an integrated investment strategy to facilitate the construction of the estimated 500,000 dwellings required to meet housing demand over the next ten years. The £6 billion allocation for social and affordable housing is broken down as follows:
|
Measure |
Funding(1999 prices) |
|
£m |
|
|
Provision of local authority housing |
2,724.8 |
|
Provision of voluntary housing |
1,204.4 |
|
Access to affordable home ownership |
1,065.0 |
|
Traveller accommodation |
83.3 |
|
Homeless accommodation |
168.3 |
|
Improvements to existing local authority housing |
624.8 |
|
Improvements to private housing |
129.4 |
|
Total |
6,000.0 |
312 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the reason 35,000 local authority homes were recently cited in the national development plan as the Government's projection for a seven year period; the population projections used by his Department in concluding that this number will be required or built over the next seven years; if local authorities were asked to give projected construction programmes for the duration of the plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24906/99]
The national development plan provides the framework for an integrated investment strat egy to increase social housing output to meet rising needs. Under the plan it is estimated that the social housing needs of 90,000 households will be met through a range of measures including the provision of 35,500 local authority houses, the expansion of voluntary housing activity, the provision by local authorities of affordable housing, the shared ownership scheme as well as other complementary social housing measures and vacancies occurring in the existing housing stock.
The provision of 35,500 local authority houses is intended to make a significant contribution to meeting social housing needs within the lifetime of the plan and their delivery is front loaded having regard to the current level of assessed housing needs. I am satisfied that this level of an overall programme for the next seven years is appropriate in the circumstances. The Central Statistics Office's population and labour force projections 2001-2031 were taken into account in determining the likely overall level of housing requirements for the period of the plan.
In the context of the four year multi-annual local authority housing programme 2000-2003, local authorities were asked to indicate the level of a programme which each authority felt was warranted and capable of being effectively implemented. The responses received from local authorities were taken into consideration by me together with the relative levels of need and progress on their existing programmes when I recently determined and notified programmes of new starts for each local authority.
