Continued momentum behind delivery of Social Housing a priority as key findings of Summary of Social Housing Assessments is published
Minister for Housing and Planning Jan O’Sullivan, TD, today (18th December 2013) said that increased momentum behind social housing delivery was a priority as the Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2013 was published.
The results show that 89,872 households were assessed as qualified for housing support as of May 2013. While this represents a reduction of approximately 9% on the 2011 assessment it should be noted that the results are not directly comparable given that the most recent assessment was based on a more detailed methodology to that used in 2011.
Key findings of the preliminary assessment are:
Single person households made up the largest household type (44%), followed by single adults with a child or children (30%);
Social welfare was the only source of income for 72% of households;
75% of households were living in the private rented sector, with two thirds of these households in receipt of rent supplement.
Commenting on the figures Minister O’Sullivan said, “the number of households qualified for housing support again emphasises the priority in delivering good quality social housing. I am determined to use every avenue available to me to respond to housing need and these include:
Returning to mainstream local authority housing construction in 2014
Enhancing the role of the not-for-profit sector in the provision of social homes
Continue to build on my Department's work with NAMA, the local authorities, and approved housing bodies to maximise delivery of NAMA units for social housing over the lifetime of the Government using targeted measures, such as the €15m earmarked for 2014 to bring long-term vacant housing back into social use.
“I recently announced a €100m construction programme over 2014/2015 that will enable local authorities with the highest housing demand to build new houses. Approximately €35m of this funding will be targeted at people with a special housing need – people with a disability, the elderly or people without a home. The other €65m will see a return to mainstream local authority housing provision. I expect this investment will see 630 new social homes built over the next two years. This is an important development; however meeting social housing demand will also require a greater role for the not-for-profit sector. In the past two years I have been working closely with the sector to enhance regulation and increase capacity to deliver social housing.”
In addition we are currently in the process of planning for the transfer of those on long term rent supplement over to the local authorities under the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and under this arrangement, these households who represent a significant proportion of those currently identified as having a housing need will be deemed to have had their housing need met.