Minister For the Environment Publishes Housing Actions Report

The Laying the Foundations: Housing Actions Report, which includes a number of actions taken across the housing spectrum to date, has been published by Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly.

Amongst the many achievements set out in the report are:

• The publication and implementation of the €4 billion Social Housing Strategy.

• The kick-starting of a local authority direct-build social housing programme.

• The refurbishment and return to use of 5,000 vacant local authority social housing stock between 2014 and 2015.

• Adding 420 Housing staff posts to local authorities for direct build

• Reforming Part V of the Planning and Development Act, compelling developers to deliver social housing.

• Continued roll-out of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), which is now operational in 19 local authority areas.

• Building the capacity of and supporting approved housing bodies to deliver social housing

• The establishment of an affordable rental pilot scheme, which will be rolled-out in 2016.

• The establishment of the Dublin Housing Supply and Co-ordination Task Force

• The introduction of a Vacant Site Levy, which takes effect in 2019, to tackle the hoarding of land which is suitable for housing

• A complete rebate of development contributions in Dublin and Cork (city and environs) since January 2016 where new housing is brought on stream at affordable prices.

Speaking in the Dail, the Minister called on the incoming Government to "continue to implement the Social Housing Strategy 2020, and to continue to ramp up the delivery of social housing that has already begun. Our local authorities have not had the capacity to engage in multiple building projects until now."

"The foundations for dealing with the problems in housing have clearly been laid and, if built on correctly by the incoming Government, will bear fruit in the time ahead," he said.

The full report, Laying the Foundations: Housing Actions Report, is available on the Department's website(PDF).

(MH)