Vol. 568 No. 5
76 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government the total number of local authority dwellings which were started and completed in 2002; the projected number of starts and completions during 2003; if he has satisfied himself with the rate of starts and completions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16660/03]
Local authorities completed or acquired a total of 5,074 housing units in the past year. House starts, including new acquisitions, amounted to 4,349. Details on an individual local authority basis are included in my Department's Annual Housing Statistics Bulletin for 2002. Current indications are that house starts, including acquisitions, will amount to 5,500 units this year and house completions will be in the order of 5,000 units. Both of these output figures include house starts and completions under the Ballymun and inner city regeneration programmes.
The Government has been responding actively to the increased level of social housing need by expanding social and affordable housing output very significantly. Last year total social and affordable housing activity, taking account of new local authority housing, vacancies, output from the voluntary sector and under the other social housing measures, met the needs of about 12,700 households compared to just short of 8,700 only three years ago.
The total capital funding for housing this year at €1.7 billion is 7% up on the amount provided last year. The substantial increases in the level of funding for social and affordable housing is reflected in the total Exchequer capital provision for this sector in 2003 of €932 million which is more than double the amount spent in 2000. The Government is maintaining and intends to maintain strong social and affordable housing programmes this year and into the future.
I join Deputy Allen in sending good wishes to the Minister, Deputy Cullen, and express the hope that he will rejoin us soon fit for combat again.
With regard to the reply I received from the Minister of State, this is the third set of figures the Minister of State or his colleague has given me in reply to the same question. We were told in notes we got on estimates that house completions for 2003 would be 4,500. When the Minster appeared before a committee he told us the figure would 4,000 and now because the Minister of State does not want to invite invidious comparison with last year he has upped the figure to 5,000, which includes Ballymun and inner city regeneration programmes. Is it not the case that the position that the housing output for 2003 will be about 20% less than it was for 2002 because the Exchequer allocation for social housing this year is significantly down on what it was last year? Irrespective of which set of figures one takes, with 48,000 applicants on local authority housing lists, is it not the case that it will take 12 years for those on the existing housing list to be housed?
Has the Minister of State any appreciation of the suffering and frustration being experienced by families who are now waiting, in many cases, for ten or more years for housing on council waiting lists with a decreasing prospect of housing being provided for them? What will he do to increase the provision of social housing given that the cost of housing has become so expensive and renting has become so difficult for many people?
I hope all the figures and statistics we gave in relation to the past are the same. I suppose estimates on what we might give from time to time could vary.
The Government does not know from one day to the next what it is doing – that is the problem.
The figures I gave include the figures under the Ballymum and inner city regeneration programmes. The figure for last year was approximately 250 and the figure for this year will be 400 to 450. That is the current estimate. There are 48,000 applicants on the waiting list. I do not know where you got the figure or who calculated that those people have been on the waiting list for 12 years.
By dividing 4,000 into 48,000.
The needs of about 12,700 households on the list were met last year by the range of—
That is double counting.
If the Minister of State addressed his remarks through the Chair, he might not invite interruption.
—different affordable schemes, the shared ownership scheme, voluntary housing which we are inclined to often ignore because that segment of the business, the voluntary housing associations, has built up greatly. They are catering for practically the same people who are on the local authority list and they are often ignored.
The allocation for pure local authority building this year is down about 5% on last year's outturn. There are signs and signals that we are getting more competitive interest and more competitive tenders this year. I hope that the actual amount of work might not necessarily be down by the same amount.
There are 48,000 applicants on the waiting list but many of them are not in immediate need of social housing.
Some of them have been on the housing list for years.
They have been, but we all know that the vast majority of them—
Does the Minister of State not appreciate the seriousness of this issue?
I understand the situation. I represent a constituency where many of my constituents are on the waiting list. We would like to see these people having a home of their own, but many of them are in rented accommodation and their needs are catered for at present.
Does the Minister of State think everything is fine?
No, I did not say that.
