Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 October 2017
288. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the extent to which the number of families deemed homeless in County Kildare are likely to achieve accommodation in the near future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45485/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraKildare County Council, along with all other local authorities, is being funded to increase significantly its delivery of social housing as part of Rebuilding Ireland. In Budget 2018, I secured €1.9 billion for housing programmes next year, a 46% increase over 2017. It will support the housing needs of 25,500 households. I also secured an additional €500 million in investment in 3,000 extra social homes over the period 2019–2021, which means the Rebuilding Ireland social housing target is increasing from 47,000 to 50,000 homes, with the total funding investment growing from €5.35 billion to over €6 billion.
An important aspect of this delivery is new social housing construction and details of all the projects under that programme are now published quarterly. The latest report, setting out the position at end Q2 2017, is available on my Department's website at the following link:
http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/social-housing-construction-projects-report-2017/ .
This report shows a sizeable construction portfolio for County Kildare, delivering over 280 new social homes. In fact, since the publication of that report, a further five new social housing construction projects, with 72 new homes, have been approved for the County.
In addition to the permanent accommodation solutions that we are putting in place, I also recently opened a new family hub development at Athy, where the Council and the Peter McVerry Trust have delivered good quality, supported accommodation for 7 families who were experiencing homelessness.
In tandem with the construction programme, all local authorities have been undertaking the targeted acquisition of properties for immediate social housing use and so far this year, Kildare County Council has purchased over 80 such homes. Approved housing bodies (AHBs) are also very active in delivery in Kildare, as can be seen with the 45 new homes approved through the Capital Advance Leasing Facility and, over 2016/17, a further 100 new homes were acquired by AHBs for households on the Kildare social housing waiting list through the Capital Assistance Scheme.
In addition, between 2014 and the end of this year, around 100 vacant social houses in Kildare will have been returned to productive use through the programme of funding support from my Department.
The Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme is also supporting local authorities and AHBs for the long term leasing of houses and apartments from private owners and developers for social housing use. Currently, there are around 375 operational units under this programme in Kildare.
Over 1,300 households are also being supported currently through the HAP scheme in Kildare. This will continue to provide a flexible housing support for addressing the housing needs of households presenting as homeless to Kildare County Council.
