– Councils need to get adequate funding to upgrade vacant Council houses
Many individuals and families continue to face serious housing difficulties due to lack of affordable housing and Council houses.
I have constantly raised with the Minister for Housing in Dáil Éireann the need to increase income eligibility limits for social housing. At present these unrealistic limits deny people on limited incomes the chance to get Council housing. At the same time these families have no chance of getting a house mortgage and they are still deprived of the opportunity of even going on to the Council housing list.
Despite repeated promises by successive Housing Ministers to review and increase the income limits nothing has happened.
It is very frustrating to see Council housing stock vacant which is in need of upgrading and again the Minister for Housing is not providing adequate funding to local authorities to ensure that vacant houses can be upgraded and allocated to tenants. By providing a proper level of funding to the Councils in a timely manner these houses could be upgraded without undue delays and provide new homes for many applicants on long waiting lists and in many instances living in poor accommodation.
Below replies by the Minister to Parliamentary Questions I tabled in Dáil Éireann –
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For Written Answer on : 03/12/2019 21:25:11
Question Number(s): 633 Question Reference(s): 50180/19
Department: Housing, Planning and Local Government
Asked by: Brendan Smith T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Housing; Planning and Local Government if additional funding will be provided for the housing voids programme in 2020; if he will reduce the local contribution demand on local authorities to source such funding in view of the constrained financial circumstances for many local authorities; his plans to ensure that adequate funding is provided to local authorities to ensure that vacant council houses are brought back to habitable standards with the minimum delay in view of the demand for social housing and long waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
REPLY
The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under the Housing Acts.
Exchequer funding is also provided through my Department’s Voids Programme to support local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-letting. This funding is to ensure that vacant units are actively targeted, with minimal turnaround and re-let time and to allow insulation retrofitting to be undertaken.
My Department will continue to support local authorities in their work in this area and, for example, in 2019 some €27.3 million has already been approved for the Voids Programme. However, there is a commitment under Rebuilding Ireland that local authorities will introduce a preventative maintenance approach to the management of their housing stock and it is logical that this will be significantly funded by the rental income from that same housing stock. My Department is in discussions on this with the City & County Management Association on behalf of the local authorities. In line with their statutory responsibilities, it is important that all local authorities, including elected Councillors, make appropriate funding provision for such work to their housing stock using their rental income which, alongside Voids Programme funding, will ensure quick re-letting of vacated housing and the adequate maintenance of all local authority housing stock.
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For Written Answer on : 03/12/2019
Question Number(s): 631,632 Question Reference(s): 50178/19, 50179/19
Department: Housing, Planning and Local Government
Asked by: Brendan Smith T.D.
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QUESTION
* To ask the Minister for Housing; Planning and Local Government the timeline for the completion and publication of the review of income eligibility limits for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
– Brendan Smith T.D.
For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 3 December, 2019.
* To ask the Minister for Housing; Planning and Local Government his plans to increase substantially the income eligibility limits for social housing in areas such as counties Cavan and Monaghan in which the present limits are much too low and are denying persons and families the opportunity to apply for social housing (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter.
– Brendan Smith T.D.
For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 3 December, 2019.
REPLY
Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended.
The 2011 Regulations prescribe maximum net income limits for each local authority, in different bands according to the area concerned, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard Household Means Policy. Under the Household Means Policy, which applies in all local authorities, net income for social housing assessment is defined as gross household income less income tax, PRSI and the universal social charge. The Policy provides for a range of income disregards, and local authorities also have discretion to decide to disregard income that is temporary, short-term or once off in nature.
The income bands and the authority area assigned to each band were based on an assessment of the income needed to provide for a household’s basic needs, plus a comparative analysis of the local rental cost of housing accommodation across the country. It is important to note that the limits introduced at that time also reflected a blanket increase of €5,000 introduced prior to the new system coming into operation, in order to broaden the base from which social housing tenants are drawn, both promoting sustainable communities and also providing a degree of future-proofing.
Given the cost to the State of providing social housing, it is considered prudent and fair to direct resources to those most in need of social housing support. The current income eligibility requirements generally achieve this, providing for a fair and equitable system of identifying those households facing the greatest challenge in meeting their accommodation needs from their own resources.
However, as part of the broader social housing reform agenda, a review of income eligibility for social housing supports in each local authority area is under way. The review will also have regard to current initiatives being brought forward in terms of affordability and cost rental and will be completed when the impacts of these parallel initiatives have been considered.
The Government has introduced a number of affordability measures to support people who wish to purchase their own homes. In particular, following a review of the previous two existing local authority home loan schemes, the House Purchase Loan and the Home Choice Loan, a new loan offering, known as the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, was introduced with effect from 1 February 2018. The loan enables credit worthy first time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand properties in a suitable price range. The low rate of fixed interest associated with the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan provides first time buyers with access to mortgage finance that they may not have otherwise been able to afford at a higher interest rate.
As with previous local authority house purchase loan finance, the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan is available to first time buyers only. This is to ensure the effective targeting of limited resources.