07/06/2006
Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.
Minister Ahern announces record funding of over €1 billion for Social Housing
- Extra €100m for Main Housing Programme -
Mr. Noel Ahern, T.D., Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal today (6 June) notified housing authorities of their financial allocations for their local authority housing programmes in 2006.
The 2006 Allocations: total in excess of €1 billion and will fund the following programmes:-
Provision of local authority Housing: €942.0
Provision of traveller accommodation and support: €45.0
Remedial works to local authority dwellings: €48.0
Total: €1.035.0
The allocation of €942 million for the provision of local authority housing provides for work in progress on over 7,600 housing units and for authorities to construct or acquire 6,000 houses this year. 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 "I am providing an additional €100 million this year to local authorities bringing the total amount available for the main local authority construction/acquisition programme to €942 million." The Minister continued, "I have already urged local authorities to press ahead with implementation of their housing programmes this year in order to commence as many schemes as possible in the current year. I would anticipate that over 5,000 housing units should be completed by local authorities in 2006."
Record funding of €46 million is being provided for the Remedial Works Schemes will enable refurbishment work to continue to dwellings in some 80 local authority estates throughout the country and allow for the designation of some new projects for funding.
€45 million is available in 2005 for the provision of Traveller accommodation. The Minister said, "The funding of €45 million in this year's allocation will allow local authorities to continue to provide much needed accommodation for the Traveller community under their new Traveller Accommodation Programmes for the period 2005 to 2008." The Minister referred to the fact that under these new programmes local authorities are required, for the first time, when adopting their new programmes, to specify annual targets for the provision of accommodation for Travellers. "These targets will be closely monitored and each local authority's progress will be measured against them on an annual basis," concluded the Minister.
In order to safeguard this investment €5.6 million has been allocated to the Management and Maintenance Scheme to ensure a high standard of maintenance at Traveller specific accommodation.