Oral Question on special instance houses for rural areas

Question No. 54

Chun an Aire Comhshaoil, Pobail agus Rialtais Áitiúil:
To the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government:

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide funding to local authorities to build specific instance houses in rural areas to accommodate families in rural communities acknowledging that they are a very cost effective way of providing social housing and recognise the rural nature of many local authority areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
– Thomas Pringle.

For ORAL answer on Wednesday, 12th June, 2013

Ref No: 27065/13

REPLY

Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government (Ms. J. O’Sullivan)

In submitting proposals for funding under my Department’s Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP), it is a matter for each local authority to determine the nature, location and relative priority of individual projects, including projects for meeting housing need in rural areas. It is normal practice for many local authorities to submit proposals for single instance houses in rural areas as part of their overall social housing funding requirements under SHIP.

In June 2012, my Department invited each city and county council to submit proposals for the purchase or construction of new social housing units over the period 2012 – 2014. Some €30 million was approved to a dvance the construction of 185 houses, largely to meet the specific accommodation needs of certain categories of tenants, including rural dwellers. Approvals were based on the prioritisation afforded to the proposals by the local authority and included the construction of a number of specific instance houses in rural areas, including three such houses in Donegal.

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