merrion street

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Simon Coveney, T.D., has today, Monday 11 July 2016, underlined the Government’s strong commitment to working in partnership with external stakeholders in solving Ireland’s housing crisis by allocating of funding for 2016 of €384,000 for the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) and €286,000 for Threshold to assist with their advice, training and other housing support services.

Minister Coveney said, “I am very happy to provide this support in 2016 for both the ICSH and Threshold. I will soon be announcing the Action Plan for Housing which set out a central role for approved housing bodies (AHBs) in terms of future social housing provision. In order for the sector to step up to this role, it needs to change and develop in terms of increased scale and capacity and to operate within a regulated environment. The ICSH will play a central role in working with the Department to manage this change and facilitate this development. The funding I am providing to will ensure that it can continue to deliver its range of services to a wide spectrum of people in an area that is central to national housing policy – creating a viable rented sector which balances the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. Threshold’s housing advice services play a key role in assisting vulnerable tenants and this funding will provide much needed support for its activities.”