Sandra McLellan
Ceist:
490
Deputy Sandra McLellan
asked the
Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government
the average time for persons to be housed in social housing in east Cork; his views that it is acceptable and appropriate that one town council (details supplied) is estimating eight years before a family gets housed; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[25142/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Deputy Jan O’Sullivan): My Department does not hold information on the number of households on local authorities’ waiting lists or any projection of the number of households that may, in the future, apply for social housing or the length of time that households will spend on waiting lists. The number of households on waiting lists continuously fluctuates as households are allocated housing and new households apply for housing support. Detailed information on the latest statutory assessment of housing need, which was carried out in March 2011, including a breakdown by housing authority, is available on my Department’s website, www.environ.ie, or on the Housing Agency’s website, www.housing.ie. In terms of the delivery of social housing, the Government’s housing policy statement, which was published in June 2011, clearly identifies that the priority for Government will be to meet the most acute needs of households applying for social housing support. Delivery of social housing will be significantly facilitated through more flexible funding models such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme and leasing, but the Government is also committed to developing other funding mechanisms that will increase the supply of permanent new social housing. Such mechanisms will include options to purchase, build to lease and the sourcing of loan finance by approved housing bodies for construction and acquisition. There is also obvious potential, across a range of housing programmes, for the Government’s objective of sourcing and providing suitable residential units for use as social housing to be aligned with the commercial objectives of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).
