Vol. 540 No. 1
68 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he will give an estimate of the total current number of applications on local authority housing lists; the amount by which he estimates the number has increased since the last assessment of housing needs, conducted in spring 1999; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19719/01]
82 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of local authority houses completed during 2000; the number of voluntary sector houses completed in 2000; the number expected to be completed in 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19720/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 68 and 82 together.
The results of the statutory assessment of housing needs undertaken by local authorities at the end of March 1999 indicated a total of 39,176 households in need of local authority housing. From ongoing contacts with local authorities my Department estimates that needs have increased by 20% between March 1999 and March 2001.
Come off it.
The next statutory assessment of housing needs is due to be undertaken by local authorities at the end of March 2002. This will be a comprehensive assessment of housing applications and will be undertaken in accordance with detailed guidelines to be issued by my Department by the end of this year.
The total number of houses completed or acquired by local authorities during 2000 was 3,207 units. While this outcome was below target, this was the first year of a four year multi-annual programme of 25,000 starts. It is encouraging that, at the end of last year, over 5,000 local authority houses were under construction, which was the highest level of end year work in progress for 15 years. This increased level of activity is borne out by the output figures for the first quarter of 2001 which indicate that local authorities completed or acquired almost 770 houses, an increase of 140% on the corresponding figure for the first quarter of last year. I expect authorities to complete or acquire some 5,000 housing units in 2001 and that new starts will exceed 7,000. With regard to the voluntary housing sector, 951 housing units were completed last year compared to 579 in 1999. I expect that more than 1,200 units will be provided by the voluntary sector this year.
The Government is fully aware of the increased level of social housing need and priority is being given to tackling this need. I have taken a range of measures to assist local authorities and voluntary bodies to expand their housing programmes and overall social housing output. This has included the introduction of a four year multi-annual programme for the period 2000 to 2003 to assist better forward planning by local authorities and to increase output. Financial resources have been greatly increased and local authorities have been given greater freedom to accept tenders. In the voluntary housing area, I have, since 1997, increased cost ceilings three times under the capital assistance and rental subsidy schemes.
The Government has already demonstrated its commitment to tackling social housing need by greatly increasing targets under the multi-annual local authority housing programme and providing for a projected almost eight fold increase in voluntary housing output over the period of the national development plan. We will achieve these targets in a way that is responsive both to the volume and the range of needs as well as to the necessity to secure quality social housing which will support effective social inclusion. This is in line with our policy of avoiding large concentrations of social housing in any one area.
The local authority housing programme is only one of a range of ways in which the needs of households on local authority waiting lists may be met. I am confident that the enhanced multi-annual local authority housing programme, together with the increased output from the complementary social housing measures and vacancies occurring in the existing stock, will enable the housing needs of around 11,000 households be met this year and that the increased social housing output over the coming four years will meet the needs of more than 50,000 households.
I wish to pursue the Minister of State on the figures. He confirmed that the figure of 39,176 applicants in the 1999 survey represents only those who sought local authority housing alone. Will he confirm that, in the 1999 assessment, a total of 50,000 applicants sought social or public housing of some form, whether it be a shared ownership scheme, Traveller accommodation or people seeking local authority housing, and that his figure of a 20% increase on 50,000 means there are almost 60,000 families on local authority waiting lists, the highest number since the 1930s?
In boom economic times there is a huge demand for housing in the public and private sectors. I have outlined the steps taken by the Government to increase the public sector housing output. Tremendous progress is being made in ratcheting up the output. There has been extensive investment to ensure the availability of land on which to build and that the land is serviced. Enormous amounts of Exchequer funds have gone towards providing the infrastructure for these houses which are coming on stream.
Private housing is built by private housing contractors and I have taken measures which are having an effect, to steer their activities more towards the needs of first time buyers.
On the question of housing output, will the Minister of State, who has now been in charge of housing for four years, explain why just 2,204 local authority houses were completed last year, the lowest number of house completions in eight years? Will he try to reconcile for Members of this House why, in what he calls economic boom times, we have the highest number of people on local authority waiting lists since the 1930s and last year we had the lowest output of local authority house building in eight years? Surely that is the worst record ever from a Minister in charge of housing policy.
Surely the Deputy will agree that it is much better to have our people employed at home, if that is their wish, rather than being in a position where they had to go abroad, as was the case? The need for local authority housing fell as low as 1,000 houses a year because people were leaving the country in times that were not as prosperous as they are now. A change has come about in a very short time and there is tremendous demand for housing to which the Government is responding.
I have indicated the programme which has been laid out. The Deputy asked about the number of houses built last year. Local authorities throughout the country, who are the housing authority, make the arrangements to build the houses and the Government provides them with the wherewithal. They did not respond with completions at a higher level. However, we are on a four year programme and I have every expectation that local authorities, having got the programmes under way, will make up the shortfall and achieve the four year target, which is important. I have continuously encouraged local authorities to front load the four year programme, and this is beginning to happen.
Will the Minister of State accept the Government has made such a dog's dinner of the entire housing market that there are now young working couples on housing lists who would not have been on them before? This is happening to the extent that the banks are now engaging in advertising – I believe questionable advertising – to encourage their parents and grandparents to mortgage their nursing home money to buy houses for their children and grandchildren. Has the Government any plans to roll back on its absolutely disastrous interventions in the market which effectively put houses beyond the reach of the vast majority of the population?
Is the Minister of State appalled and embarrassed at the awful situation unfolding before the entire country whereby more people than ever wait for longer on housing lists than ever before? The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs proposes to spend £140 million per annum on rent support in lieu of rehousing because there are no houses available. This is a recurring annual payment which in five years will cost £1 billion per annum, and rising. Has the Minister of State considered his options in light of these startling and stark facts, one of which must obviously be resignation?
Will the Minister of State address two issues? First, will he agree that an assessment of housing needs once every three years is totally unsatisfactory and that, given the volatility in the housing market and the increase in numbers seeking housing, this assessment should be carried out on an annual basis? Second, will he agree the allocation of local authority housing is a very contentious issue due to the shortage of houses and that in the interests of transparency he should consider issuing a directive to the local authorities requesting them to establish a points system for people on housing lists? Some but not all local authorities operate this system on a voluntary basis. I would like the Minister of State to address that difficulty.
The Minister of State said in his reply that he expects to have 50,000 houses completed in the coming years – I presume he means in the coming four years. In light of the decreased output last year, has he a definite plan for the 50,000 houses or is it just another aspiration on which it is not possible to deliver?
Will the Minister of State do one thing before he is turfed out of office? Will he consider establishing a national housing authority to get to grips with the enormous scale of public housing provision necessary as a result of his failure to control house prices?
It is surprising to be asked these questions mainly by people who are members of the housing authorities in their own area.
The Minister of State is passing the buck.
Deputy Gilmore must allow the Minister of State to reply without interruption.
When I look at the output of each of the local authorities of which these Deputies are members, I note they did not achieve the level of starts authorised for them.
Dominated by the Minister of State's Government.
The Government provided money for water and sewerage services, acquisition of land, building of houses, told them how many they could start, gave them a multi-annual programme and told them to front load the programme.
I am aware of the councils of which the Deputies are members, and they are not achieving the house building targets in their local authority areas.
I am not a member of a county council.
Deputy Gilmore wants to establish a national housing authority, which means he wants to take the function from the local authorities.
Clearly, they are not building—
The Minister of State's Department is blocking them.
It is not.
The Deputy should name the schemes being held up in the Department in regard to applications for building houses.
The Kilcoole and Newtown development plan.
That is not a house building programme.
The Minister of State must address his remarks through the Chair.
The Deputy should go home and do his homework.
None of the Deputies' local authorities have achieved the targets they were given.
