€17m to be provided for housing supply and to improve housing stock in the city
Fine Gael Cork South Central Deputy, Jerry Buttimer, has today (Tuesday) welcomed the announcement of more than €23 million to be made available to Cork City and County Councils for social and voluntary housing and regeneration projects in 2012. This is part of more than €250 million in housing capital allocations to be distributed to local authorities throughout the country to support social housing nationally.
“The details of the allocations to local authorities were announced today by the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan. As part of the overall allocation of €691 million for local authorities under the Social Housing Investment Programme for 2012, €251.5 million is being used to support the national regeneration programme, to improve the standard of energy efficiency of the national housing stock and to fulfil commitments under existing contracts for the delivery of social and voluntary housing.
“Cork City Council is in line to receive €16,994,750, €13.5 million of which will be used for improving the housing stock, including regeneration, with the balance going towards housing supply. Cork County Council is set to receive €6,657,456.
“The reality is that the demand for social and voluntary housing remains high. This is forcing the Government to come up with new and innovative ways of doing more with less.
“The Minister has said she expects to be able to deliver between 3,500 and 4,000 additional social housing units this year through measures such as the Capital Advance Leasing Facility. It is expected that additional investment in improving the housing stock will see another 1,500 properties that are currently vacant, being brought back into use.
“By focusing on improving older housing stock and bringing vacant premises back into circulation, new life will be brought back into areas that have been neglected and ignored. It is the Minister’s intention to announce a three-year programme of new construction projects later this year, albeit on a limited scale, to cover the period to end 2014. Times are tight but the housing needs of people must still be met. I am delighted that such a generous allocation has been made for Cork city and county and I look forward to seeing the benefits it will bring for the locality into the future.”