New five-year plans for social and affordable housing drawn up by 17 local authorities have been approved by the Minister of State for Housing, Mr Noel Ahern.
A total of €6 billion in Government funding is available for subsidised housing over the next five years, covering accommodation rented to tenants by local authorities, as well as the sale of subsidised housing and aid for the voluntary and co-operative housing sectors. The money will also support local authority programmes to regenerate and manage existing local authority housing stock.
The five-year funding programme was designed to overcome local authority problems with sustainable planning, obtaining planning permissions, and construction delays. As revealed by The Irish Times last month some local authorities have consistently failed to spend their full allocations on social housing, and are only marginally better on spending on affordable housing. A small number of local authorities have managed to spend more than their allocation on both social and affordable housing. In providing five-year finance the Government sought to improve the output of underperforming authorities as part of a strategic five-year housing plan.
The Minister also required the local authorities to provide a blueprint for social and affordable homes "in a manner which builds sustainable communities". All local housing authorities must submit five-year plans and the Minister said last night that he expected the outstanding authorities to do so within weeks.
Last year the Government's strategic planning unit, the National Economic and Social Council, said a clear vision of the kind of high-quality, integrated sustainable neighbourhoods, was required by local authorities and the State. "These action plans," the Minister said, "are evidence that this type of strategic thinking and vision is being promoted within the local government sector."
