New local authority homes to benefit elderly and disabled people

Further Investment in Social Housing Delivery with €180m of Project Approvals

Another 54 social housing construction projects kicked off.
Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly, and Minister for State for Housing, Planning & Construction, Paudie Coffey, have today, July 23rd, 2015 announced further progress on social housing delivery with the funding of almost 1200 new units across the country. (Breakdowns below).

Minister Leo Varadkar and Cllr. Kieran Dennison
launch Hansfield Housing Development

The Ministers have allocated funding to Approved Housing Bodies for the construction of 521 new homes, at a cost of €84million and for the purchase of a further 536 housing units costing €67 million. This brings the total number of started construction projects for social housing to over 200.

The investment, which comes to over €151 million, will be given to AHBs (Approved Housing Bodies), to assist those with specific needs such as elderly people, persons with intellectual or physical disability and homeless persons. The newly acquired units will come on stream for people with housing need this year while the newly constructed units will be completed by 2017. The projects all form part of this Department’s Capital Assistance Scheme. The scheme requires local authorities to prioritise proposals for people with special housing needs in co-operation with an approved housing body.

The overall value of this investment in social housing via the Approved Housing Bodies is €151m, with €84m of this being for new build construction projects. In line with the approach under the Capital Assistance Scheme of promoting access to community-based housing in the vicinity of necessary supports, the proposals to be funded range from single unit developments to construction proposals for over 20 units together. The majority of acquisition proposals are scheduled to be delivered in the short term, with work required in some cases to customise special needs housing. Larger scale construction proposals are to be completed by 2017.

As well as being a further advancement on the Government’s €4billion social housing strategy to deliver 35,000 housing units out to 2020, this investment shows a strong commitment to meeting special housing needs for those who may require particular supports, including the elderly, persons with an intellectual or physical disability and homeless persons. This comes on the back of the announcement by the Ministers in May of increased funding for local authorities to undertake adaptations to houses to support people with a disability and the elderly.

As well as the announcement of special needs housing by Approved Housing Bodies, the Ministers also announced a further set of local authority construction proposals, of over €30m value to deliver 118 new housing units.

Minister Kelly said: “This demonstrates further and sustained progress on social housing. It will have a short-term impact with over 500 homes being purchased with another 521 being built. In May I announced the first major investment in local authority housing for many years, with 100 new construction projects approved that will deliver over 1,700 new housing units over a three year period. I said at that time that this represented a good start but more would be needed. It’s significant, therefore, that we are now announcing a major delivery programme for the Approved Housing Body sector, with over 1,000 new social housing units to cater in particular for the elderly, persons with a disability and homeless persons.

“Approved Housing Bodies have an important role to play in delivery under the Government’s Social Housing Strategy and this announcement means they now have important targets to deliver to meet important special housing needs. It is an area where they have great skills and capacity, so I look forward to seeing the fruits of their work. Given the Government’s particular focus on addressing the challenging issue of homelessness, I’m particularly pleased that there will be new, dedicated, social housing units delivered as a result of this announcement by Approved Housing Bodies who provide very important supports for those who find themselves in need of support and shelter.”

Minister Coffey said "The projects announced today for the Approved Housing Bodies will see the construction of over 500 new accommodation units with a value of €84m, while the Local Authority construction proposals we are also announcing will deliver over €30m of construction activity across 7 separate new projects. Building on the announcement in May of 100 new social housing build projects, these approvals will provide further support for jobs in the construction and trades sector. Given that the two recent announcements on social housing construction encompass all local authority areas, I’m delighted that these jobs are being spread throughout communities all over the country.”

South Dublin County Council

47

€5,629,700

DLR County Council	42	€7,432,700
Donegal County Council	15	€794,500
Dublin City Council	141	€24,884,900

Fingal County Council

69

€12,940,900