Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 February 2017
118. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the level of funding that will be provided to Cavan County Council for 2017 in respect of housing construction, purchase of houses, upgrading of existing housing stock and funding for housing grant schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6514/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFunding is provided to local authorities under my Department’s Social Housing Capital Investment programme, to deliver additional social housing stock through new construction projects and through the acquisition of new and previously owned houses/apartments. In addition, my Department also provides funding to local authorities to carry out improvement works to their existing social housing stock.
Targets and provisional funding allocations out to end-2017 were notified to all local authorities in April 2015. Cavan County Council was notified of a target to deliver 240 social housing units for the period out to the end-2017, supported by an allocation of €12.5m, to be invested in a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes.
Since then, Cavan County Council has made proposals to my Department in respect of new social housing delivery via capital funded programmes, which have been approved by my Department. These approvals are included in project information available at the following links on my Department’s website:
http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/funding/ministers-kelly-and-coffey-kickstart-major-social-housing.
http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/funding/ministers-kelly-and-coffey-announce-further-investment-social-housing.
http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/ministers-kelly-coffey-announce-further-1000-social-housing-units.
One further approved social housing project for Cavan not listed at the above links is the project at Rosehill, Mullagh (Phase 6), for the delivery of 8 units at an estimated cost of €900,000.
Funding is provided to local authorities in line with their advancement of projects through construction. Accordingly, the level of funding that will be provided in 2017 to Cavan County Council for their social housing delivery activity will be directly linked to the scale of delivery they achieve on these projects. I am keen that these projects are advanced as soon as possible and have assured local authorities that funding is in place to support their activity in this regard.
My Department provides funding for a range of social housing stock improvement initiatives, such as the energy efficiency retrofitting programme, adaptations to houses for people with a disability and the elderly, and returning vacant properties to productive use. In respect of privately-owned homes, my Department provides funding under the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability, which facilitate the continued independent occupancy of their own homes by older people and people with a disability by supporting necessary adaptations, repairs or improvement works. Allocations for 2017 in respect of these programmes will be notified to local authorities shortly.
