From Paschal's speech
Housing
Housing is a core priority of the Programme for a Partnership Government.
I am committing some €1.2 billion in funding for Housing to the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government for 2017.
This funding will allow for continued implementation of the Housing Action Plan. Under the Plan, 47,000 new social housing units will be delivered by 2021.
The capital allocation also includes an Exchequer allocation of €50 million for the €200 million Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund, which will accelerate the provision of local public infrastructure to support the development of key sites for private housing in urban areas.
The fund has the potential to facilitate the delivery of up to 20,000 private houses by 2019 through developers working in cooperation with Local Authorities.
From July this year, the Government increased rent thresholds for the Housing Assistance Payment and Rent Supplement.
This was to make it easier for people to access housing with assistance under these schemes and to protect those in danger of becoming homeless.
Today, I am providing an additional €105 million for the Housing Assistance Payment Scheme that will bring the budget for this purpose to nearly €153 million, an increase of 220% compared to 2016.
This will enable an additional 15,000 households to avail of HAP, and together with the capital allocation provided for housing and other measures, will mean that over 21,000 applicants for social housing will have their housing needs met next year.
I am also increasing the allocation for emergency accommodation for homeless people by an additional €28 million approximately, to almost €100 million.
