£800m to deal with crisis

At £800 million, the provision for spending on housing is one of the largest single items in the Government's Estimates.

This represents a 50 per cent increase on last year and reflects the Government's determination to tackle the current housing crisis, the Minister for State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr Robert Molloy, said. It would, he claimed, provide for 12,650 non-private homes in the coming year.

However, while the allocation was swiftly welcomed by the Construction Industry Federation, it was criticised by the Labour Party spokesman, Mr Eamon Gilmore. He accused the Minister of "being a little bit smart with his figures to suggest that he could increase housing output from 3,000 units to more than 12,000 with a 50 per cent increase in funding."

The Minister said the target was to increase the supply of non-private dwellings to 500,000 over the next ten years. He acknowledged that home "starts" did not necessarily mean completions in the same year and the capacity of the construction industry would be a factor.

However, he said he was aiming at 5,500 local authority starts, 1,000 units to be provided under the social housing programme; 1,000 under the affordable housing programme; 400 units under a scheme which operates in lieu of repairs to existing units; 3,500 through normal vacancies; and 1,250 through other schemes.

The Minister said there were currently 37,000 people on the housing waiting lists. The provision in the Estimates "would have an enormous impact." The Estimate of £800 million includes £432 million for local authority and social housing programmes - up £163 million, or 60 per cent, on this year - and £97 million for the regeneration of housing areas.