Strong progress on Rebuilding Ireland Implementation during 1st Quarter of 2017
Mr. Simon Coveney T.D., Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, today (1June, 2017) published the Third Quarterly Progress Report on implementation of “Rebuilding Ireland – an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness”.
Rebuilding Ireland is a whole-of-Government Plan split into 5 key pillars designed to
1. Comprehensively address homelessness;
2. Increase the supply of social housing by 47,000 units by 2021,
3. Increase the total output of all housing supply (social, private and rental) to at least 25,000 per annum by 2021,
4. Improve and modernise the rental sector, and,
5. Make the best use of the existing housing stock.
Minister Coveney welcomed the publication of the third Progress Report, as approved by Government, saying -
“In terms of momentum, the report shows strong evidence that Rebuilding Ireland, even though just 10 months old, is delivering increased supply. All output indicators are up with planning permissions for 16,375 new homes granted in the 12 months up to end December 2016, an increase of 26% year on year; Commencement Notices for 14,192 new homes submitted in the 12-month period to end March 2017, up 38% year on year; and 15,684 ESB connections, up 19% year on year.”
The Report documents the progress made on 47 specific actions during the first Quarter of 2017 of which 38 are complete or on schedule. Of the nine actions, which are incomplete or behind schedule, all have seen significant progress and will be completed or, in the case of ongoing multi-annual actions, brought back on schedule, during 2017.
Key developments across the five pillars during the first Quarter of 2017 include:
Pillar 1 – Address Homelessness:
the continued roll-out of the Homeless HAP scheme in Dublin,
under the Housing Agency’s €70m Housing Acquisition Programme, bids have been accepted on 351 homes and over 203 contracts closed,
additional temporary emergency accommodation facilities in place,
Pillar 2 – Accelerate Social Housing:
Current and capital funding of €1.3bn is in place in 2017 to deliver social housing to 21,000 households,
Housing Assistance Payment Scheme now available in all 31 Local Authority areas - €153 million available in 2017.
An accelerated and scaled-up social housing programme, as evidenced by the Social Housing Construction Projects Status Report (Quarter 1), available by clicking here
Pillar 3 – Build More Homes:
Approvals for 34 projects across 15 local authorities under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) which will see investment of €226 million to facilitate 23,000 new homes by 2021.
A comprehensive mapping database of publicly owned lands in key areas published on www.rebuildingireland.ie.
The Help-to-Buy Incentive Scheme is working well with 4,500 applicants and over 1,000 claims received by end Q1 2017.
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Pillar 4 – Improve the Rental Sector:
2 more areas (Maynooth and Cobh) designated as Rent Pressure Zones - 57% of tenancies nationally (186,000 rental households) now benefit from rent predictability.
Pillar 5 - Utilise Existing Housing:
The Housing Agency has completed its drafting of a Vacant Housing Re-use Strategy which is now being considered within the Department of Housing, in consultation with other relevant Departments, with the aim of bringing forward a readily implementable, action-orientated, strategic plan for consideration by Government in June 2017.
The latest survey of Unfinished Housing Developments (UHDs) confirms that a further 248 developments have now been fully resolved in the twelve month since the previous survey and has identified 1,300 homes with potential for social housing purposes.
The Minister commented:-
“This progress report is very encouraging. This is largely due to the combined efforts of relevant Government Departments, Agencies, Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, in collaboration with industry and housing sector stakeholders who have all got behind the Action Plan, taking a solution- focused approach, and delivering on the actions agreed by Government. However, we cannot afford to be complacent: the housing challenge remains immense, households remain under extreme pressures, and demand still far outstrips supply. We must continue to work together to meet this challenge head on by driving implementation with urgency and purpose.
Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and homelessness – Third Quarterly Progress Report is available here:
http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/rebuilding-irelands-third-quarterly-progress-report/.