Minister Ahern announces housing allocations of €773 million
Back to List23/04/2004
Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.
Mr. Noel Ahern, T.D., Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal today (23 April) notified housing authorities of their financial allocations for their local authority housing programmes in 2004.
The 2004 allocation total of €773 million will fund the following programmes:-
€m
Provision of local authority housing 706.0
Provision of traveller accommodation and support 40.0
Remedial works to local authority dwellings 27.0
Total: 773.0
The allocation of €706 million provides for work in progress on 360 schemes under construction and for the start of 300 new schemes. This allocation also provides for the scheme of extensions to local authority housing to relieve overcrowding and the improvement works in lieu of local authority housing scheme.
Minister Ahern said "Last year local authorities commenced almost 5,000 dwellings under both the main construction programme and the regeneration programmes. This year the funding provided will allow local authorities to start some 5,500 dwellings under these programmes". Minister Ahern added that local authorities were now providing more integrated housing developments with combinations of local authority, voluntary and affordable housing together in single schemes.
The €27 million funding being provided for the Remedial Works Schemes will enable refurbishment work to continue to dwellings in some 60 local authority estates throughout the country and allow for the designation of some new projects for funding.
€40 million is being provided in 2004 for the provision of Traveller accommodation. The Minister said that, "The increase in funding of €10 million on the 2003 allocation is a further indication of the Government's commitment to meeting the housing needs of the Traveller community". Minister Ahern added that in order to safeguard this investment he has allocated €2.675 million for the management and maintenance of Traveller facilities.