More social housing needed in private estates says Minister for Finance

Local authorities need to increase social housing in better-off areas if they are to address the housing crisis, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said.

He said if they changed their approach many more Nama units could then come onstream to house homeless families and households on the social housing waiting lists.

There are no regulations as to how many social households can be placed in already existing developments. The national guideline recommends 20 per cent but local authorities have flexibility on this issue and it can be influenced by elected councillors.

Mr Noonan said: “If local authorities were to change their own protocols as to the proportion of social housing that is acceptable in private housing estates, well then extra Nama houses will be available to them.

“That offer is there for them but it is up to the Department of the Environment and the local authorities to make that decision,” he said.

He was speaking at the publication yesterday of Nama's annual report. It has delivered 684 units of housing to local authorities and voluntary housing bodies so far this year, the majority of which have tenants. Negotiations It expects to have delivered 1,100 by the end of the year and is also in negotiations with a local authority about another 500 units, which had been rejected but which could now be deemed acceptable for social housing.

There had been concerns on the part of a local authority that there would be too great a concentration of social housing in one area if they were used.

Nama has identified about 2,000 units it believes are suitable for housing in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. Rejected About 1,000 of those units were rejected because of concerns about social housing concentrations, said Nama's chief executive Brendan McDonagh.

"But we are in discussion with the Housing Agency and local authorities.

“Because of the crisis they are looking at revising their guidelines. So 500 of those houses which were rejected could be back on the table.

“They will be completed by October so there will be 500 extra available if they want them. So potentially we could have 1,600 by the end of the year.”

Asked why units were only coming onstream now, Mr McDonagh said: “The reality is we had stock there ready, complete. We’ve been offering these 2,000 properties since two years ago. It’s been taking a long time for it to work through the system to identify the demand.

“It’s surprised us really how long it’s taken in terms of identifying what was needed.”

The call by Mr Noonan on local authorities to accept higher proportions of social housing in some areas comes less than a week after Minister for Housing Jan O’Sullivan said she would “use a stick” if necessary to get local authorities to accelerate the rate at which they refurbish and re-let vacant dwellings, or “voids”.