Meeting housing need is a huge challenge and I have always said that. If the Deputy wishes to call it a crisis, it does not matter to me. I am conscious of the need and demand for housing. We have had to deal with many difficulties, including exorbitant increases in house prices, but we have taken measures which have been successful in calming things down in that area.
While completions for the first four months of this year are up 4.2% on the same period last year, it is too early to make predictions about expected housing output. Claims of a 17% fall in private housing output are exaggerated. Comparison of HomeBond registrations in the year 2001 with the year 2000, when registrations were exceptionally high because of a change in HomeBond procedures, are misleading. While HomeBond registrations are down 17% in the first four months of 2001 compared to the 2000 figures, the decrease on the 1999 figure is significantly less at 6.4%.
While there might be some reduction in private housing output this year, there will be an increase in local authority and voluntary housing output. Local authority house building, excluding acquisitions, should be approximately 4,000 compared with 2,200 last year. Voluntary housing output should increase from 951 units last year to over 1,200 this year. The official figures for local authority housing completions in 2000, which the Deputy claims to be the lowest in eight years, is 3,207. The figure for 1997 was 3,217. I do not understand what the Deputy is seeking to compare.
The Deputy is getting into the semantics of whether the house is built by the local authority or on a PPP basis. What is important is the number of new houses being provided to enable people on the housing lists to be housed. We are putting much emphasis on encouraging PPP arrangements between the local authorities and local contractors to try to accelerate the programme. Is Deputy Gilmore opposed to our actions in providing increased funding and seeking quicker ways of achieving the construction of houses for people on the waiting lists? That is what he appears to imply.