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Minister Finneran announces housing provision contained in Budget 2010

10/12/09

Michael Finneran, T.D., Minister for Housing and Local Services today (9 December 2009) announced total provision for housing supports and programmes in 2010 of over €1.16 billion.

The overall provision contains the following specific elements:
• Continued restructuring of the Social Housing Investment Programme away from construction / acquisition towards more flexible market based delivery mechanisms such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme and long term leasing – output anticipated to come in at around 9,000 units
• Significantly increased funding for local authority regeneration and remedial works – up by around €25m to €195m
• A new dedicated funding stream with a provision of €40m for the carrying out of key energy efficiency and retrofitting works to existing local authority housing stock, delivering important environmental and fuel poverty dividends
• An increase of 23% (or €15m) in funding under the suite of adaptation grants for older people and people with disabilities
• A continued commitment to tackling homelessness with funding being maintained at €56m despite budgetary pressures in a key year for implementation of the Government’s homeless Strategy – the Way Home
• Strong commitment to the provision of special needs accommodation through the Capital Assistance Scheme with funding increasing by over 30% to €145m.

The Minister said that his key priority in shaping the overall provision had been to “focus the impact of adjustments in the areas in which there is scope to maintain output through more flexible approaches and where the policy context supports it, and prioritise the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. In keeping with this strategy, the reform programme that has been well underway in my Department for a number of years and is seeing a shift away from construction / acquisition and a one size fits all approach to social housing need towards a more graduated, tapered system of supports is continuing. This refocusing is not a symptom of economic downturn – it is an agenda that is rooted in the clearly articulated rationale set out in the Government’s housing policy statement, Delivering Homes: Sustaining Communities.  The logical consequence of this policy reform was always going to be that funding under the main local authority programme would come back somewhat from the record highs of a few years ago.

“At the same time, more flexible delivery mechanisms such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme and long term leasing are playing an increasingly prominent role in meeting mainstream social housing need. Quite simply, from a policy perspective, the restructuring I am progressing is the correct approach for social housing delivery, and in such constrained financial circumstances, it is the only strategy which can enable us maintain the focus of our efforts where they are needed most – homeless people, people with disabilities, older people, communities in need of social, physical and economic renewal, and improving the environmental performance of the housing stock. For these households, the housing budget for 2010 represents a very positive outcome”.

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