Landlords to provide 50% of social housing, says department

ABOUT 50 per cent of social housing will be provided through long-term leasing or rental accommodation schemes from landlords in the private sector this year, the Department of the Environment has said.

The department said it was no longer acceptable that local authorities continue to build and purchase units while there was an existing stock available.

It expects to provide up to 4,500 homes under the two schemes by the end of 2010.

In March 2008, 56,000 households were on local authority waiting lists nationwide, a 30 per cent increase since 2005. However, the recession has pushed numbers up on the lists.

In a move away from building new accommodation, the Government has said it will rely more on long-term leasing and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (Ras).

Long-term leasing involves local authorities leasing properties from owners for between 10 and 20 years for social housing. The tenants manage and maintain the properties and an individual owner must have at least five homes to offer to be considered for the scheme.

Ras involves local authorities renting private properties for at least 18 months. It differs from the traditional rent supplement allowance given to unemployed people because tenants can stay in the scheme after taking up full-time employment.

Minister of State with responsibility for housing Michael Finneran last week said the leasing plan and the rental accommodation scheme would deliver 50 per cent of total social housing output in 2010. “This is a dramatic change to the social housing landscape and it’s one that also creates the space within our reduced capital budget to allow us to maintain or even increase funding for programmes targeting the most vulnerable and the most disadvantaged households.” He said long-term leasing would be the central plank of social housing supply in the coming years.