§ Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many of the new social housing units projected for this financial year have been constructed; and when the rest will be constructed; [80584]
(2) what assessment he has made of the new build social housing programme for 2002–03. [80583]
§ Mr. BrowneGiven that both questions relate to the new build social housing programme, I shall answer them together.
For the current year, my Department has a programme for Government commitment to fund housing associations to start 1,400 new social houses. However, that target has now been revised to 1,200. The 200 houses that have been deferred will start in the first quarter of the next financial year.
To date, 266 new homes have started on site. The remaining 934 will start between now and 31 March 2003. The reduction in the number of starts this year can be attributed to:
742Wthe need to allocate additional funding to other housing activity, for example, the Northern Ireland co-ownership scheme which is attracting a higher number of applicants than anticipated;the planning moratorium that was in place earlier in the year which has delayed several schemes;difficulties in acquiring sites and delays in processing planning applications; andtrouble at interface areas in Belfast which has had an adverse affect on previously agreed start datesNew procedures, to be introduced for 2003–04, will help address some of these problems enabling targets for future programmes to be met.