Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 April 2017
29. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the progress being made on reducing the social housing waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16799/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe results of the statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments carried out in 2016 show that there were 91,600 households on local authority housing waiting lists as at 21 September 2016. This figure represents an increase of 1,728 households, or 1.9%, on the 89,872 households recorded in the last summary which was carried out in May 2013. The results of the 2016 Summary are available on my Department’s website at the following link:
http://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/publications/files/summary_of_social_housing_assessments_2016.pdf
The Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, published in July 2016, sets out the Government’s approach to addressing the current challenges in the housing sector. Delivering on the ambitious targets set out in Rebuilding Ireland, including the commitment to deliver an additional 47,000 social housing units by 2021 and an accelerated roll-out of the Housing Assistance Payment Scheme, will address the needs of households on waiting lists.
The delivery against this target is already underway and 2016 saw over 19,000 social housing supports provided nationally, with expenditure of €935 million on housing during the year. This exceeded the target of 17,240 for 2016, giving a very positive start to the challenge of meeting the ambitious targets in Rebuilding Ireland. In 2017, it is planned to deliver social housing supports to at least 21,000 households. In addition, I expect to provide new social housing delivery targets for all local authorities later in Q2 2017, taking account of the results of the 2016 Assessments.
In line with previous commitments, statutory summaries of social housing assessments are now being carried out on an annual basis, rather than every three years as was done in the past. These regular summaries will provide up-to-date and comprehensive data on the numbers of households qualified for social housing support on an on-going basis and will ensure that social housing supports delivered continue to match the variable profile of those in need.
Arrangements to carry out the 2017 summary are well advanced and I expect the results to be available for publication in the latter half of this year.
