Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
2668. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the estimated cost to provide a home to each person on local authority homeless lists, excluding the use of the private rental market in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33512/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra2669. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the estimated cost to provide a home to each person who has been on a local authority social housing waiting list for over five years, excluding use of the private rental market in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33513/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra2764. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the estimated cost to provide a home to every person on local authority homeless lists, that is, excluding use of the private rental market in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35066/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 2668, 2669 and 2764 together.
The cost of delivering additional social housing homes is largely dependent on a range of key variables, such as the specific needs of the individual or family household on the local authority waiting list, including those on homeless lists and the location and size of property required and any additional wrap around services that might be required in particular cases. Housing needs assessment is a statutory function of a local authority and while my Department collects statistical information from local authorities on waiting lists, we do not hold the level of information required, including household composition, to provide the estimated cost of providing a home to each person on the local authority waiting list for five years or more, or to each person on the homeless list.
Delivering in a real and substantial way, that will have long-term impact on housing lists, needs to take a multitude of factors into consideration. Increasing build capacity takes not only financial investment, but time, so any action needs to consider short, medium and long-term solutions, harnessing the capacity of what is available while building the stock in parallel.
It is for that reason that the Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan involves a blended approach, €6 billion being invested in a multi-annual, broadly based action plan which seeks to, inter alia, deliver an additional 50,000 social housing units in the period 2016 to 2021; and meet the housing needs of an additional 87,000 households through the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme and the Rental Accommodation Scheme.
The Plan recognises the need for blended delivery, accessing the immediate availability of existing properties through acquisition or leasing arrangements, with a particular focus on harnessing the capacity of vacant properties, while at the same time facilitating local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to significantly enhance their own build programmes. A review of the Plan in 2017 recognised the need for an even greater emphasis on direct building of social housing than was envisaged and additional capital funding was secured under Budget 2018 to make this happen, bringing the overall Budget from €5.35 to €6 billion.
Since 2016, over 12,700 built, bought or long-term leased homes have been delivered, in addition to a further 32,000 flexible housing solutions under HAP and RAS. That means that some 45,000 households have had their housing needs met over the first two years of Rebuilding Ireland.
The significant expansion of the social housing build programme is evident in outputs for 2017, and also in the significant pipeline of future activity that continues to be developed. At end Q1 2018 just under 15,000 additional new build social homes were at varying stages of advancement under the Rebuilding Ireland programme.
The Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan, together with initiatives announced on foot of the targeted review of progress which was undertaken last year, as well as additional measures announced under Budget 2018, provides a robust framework for addressing the housing and homelessness challenges we face. The focus will remain firmly on implementation and delivery to ensure that the range of objectives and targets set are achieved.
