New Guidelines for Local Housing Assessments

​QUESTION

To ask the Minister for Housing; Planning and Local Government the new guidelines his Department is issuing in regard to local housing assessments needs in each local authority as outlined under the National Planning Framework; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

REPLY

The National Planning Framework (NPF), published by Government in February 2018 under Project Ireland 2040, provides for a Housing Need Demand Assessment (HNDA) to be developed by each local authority, in a co-ordinated fashion, to support the preparation of wider statutory housing and core strategies as part of the relevant local authority development plans. 
To embed the HNDA approach in future planning and housing policy approaches, my Department intends to update existing statutory guidelines on development plans and local authority housing strategies later this year with the inclusion of a HNDA methodology, so that a strategic view is taken of a given local authority's housing requirements across all tenures and housing types.
The assessment will be undertaken by local authorities and co-ordinated by the Regional Assemblies, ensuring an effective response to the particular circumstances of metropolitan areas where city regions straddle two or more local authority areas. 
Building on their past experience in developing housing strategies and core strategies, local authorities will develop the new HNDA approach, drawing upon information on demographic, affordability and wider economic trends, coupled to the profile of the existing housing stock and its management.