Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 11 Nov 2003

Vol. 574 No. 1

Written Answers. - Local Authority Housing.

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

491 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government his estimate of the amount of the total funding of ?430 million allocated for affordable housing in 2003 which will actually be spent; his estimate of the number of homes under the affordable housing scheme which were planned to be completed with this allocation in 2003; the number which have actually been completed; if he will consider using the surplus to fund additional social housing in the event of an underspend on affordable housing in 2003 in view of the huge demand for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26213/03]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. N. Ahern):

The total affordable housing provision, Exchequer and non-Exchequer, in 2003 is almost €400 million. This provision includes site subsidies, rent subsidies payable under the shared ownership scheme and mortgage subsidies payable under the affordable housing scheme. It is expected that the target of 1,000 units for both schemes will be met in 2003. The latest information on completions under both schemes for each local authority is published in my Department's housing statistics bulletin. A copy of the June quarter 2003, is available in the Oireachtas Library.

The non-Exchequer capital allocations for both schemes are limits to the local authorities' expenditure for loans under these schemes. The actual expenditure is funded either from the local authorities' own resources or from borrowing from the Housing Finance Agency. It is not possible to transfer any unspent non-Exchequer allocations to social housing projects. However, while the activity is high on both the affordable housing and shared ownership schemes, some shortfall anticipated due to a fall in demand for shared ownership is being used to meet commitments for disabled persons' grants.