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[Press Release: May 07th, 2008] Green Party Cllrs. welcome funding allocation for National Housing Programmes 2008Green Party Cllrs. welcomed funding for Bray of €9,150,000 from the 2008 National Housing Programme for the provision of social, affordable, voluntary and co-operative, remdeial works and central heating schemes to households experiencing housing need. Details were also released of the Quarter 4, Housing Statistics Bulletin, part of a quarterly series which track progress by local authorities in the delivery of social and affordable housing. In addition, the Bulletin includes statistics on affordable housing output, house prices, and lending activity in 2007. The Cllrs. were pleased to hear that there is an overall increase of 28% in 2008 in the capital allocation for regeneration programmes across the country.Cllr. Caroline Burrell stated, "While the numbers demonstrate strong performance in social housing delivery, this does not adequately describe the recent paradigm shift in the Department’s social housing policy. Social housing, once synonymous with sprawling estates on the edge of urban areas, has been replaced with projects that seek to deliver sustainable social and tenure mix within strong local communities. This is the way to go - with sustainable developments which attract people to live and reside there long-term and have quality of life. The National Housing Policy Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities sets out as the key objective for any social housing project the need to have regard to the physical, economic, and social environment, in building a sustainable community". Cllr. Steve Matthews said, "As the resources available for the delivery of the main local authority social housing programme are set to break the one billion euro mark this year, it must be emphasised that all allocations to local authorities were made on the basis of housing need to better deliver our social objectives and to ensure maximum value for money for the public purse. The latest statutory Housing Needs Assessment, which will inform the allocation of resources into the future, is currently underway with a first report expected later this year." Local authorities continued to perform strongly in the delivery of affordable housing to low-income households with an 10% increase to 3,539 units in 2007. There was also reference to the important role of the voluntary & co-operative sector in responding to housing need, which delivered an unprecedented 2,200 new housing starts in 2007. These projects are supported through generous capital funding schemes from the Department, which provide up to 100% of the approved cost of permanent accommodation for low-income families and groups with special needs. Within this provision there is an allocation of €190 million under Capital Loan and Subsidy Scheme of which €160 million is expected to be used this year. This scheme focuses on family type accommodation with units often being sourced through the Part V process. In addition grants of over €200 million have been approved under the Capital Assistance Scheme for elderly and special needs housing, which is expected to result in a draw down in the region of €130 million in the current year. Cllr. Burrell commented on the Rental Accommodation Scheme,"This scheme currently provides long-term rented accommodation to some 11,000 households, with a further target of 5,000 households to be accommodated in 2008. The households provided for under this scheme are those with an identified long-term housing need, mainly in the private rented sector, and in receipt of rent supplementation. The scheme offers significant benefits to these individuals offering greater security of tenure, high quality accommodation, and the facility to return to work. €51 million has been provided in 2008 to ensure the continued operation of the scheme and to meet this ambitious target, representing an increase of €24 million on the previous year. The Greens in Government are committed to the delivery of better management and maintenance of local authority estates and also the need to re-invest in problem areas through improvement works and regeneration programmes."
The 2008 Housing Allocations for Bray will fund the following programmes:
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