Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 2 March 2021
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed)
Mr. Frank Curran:
In terms of bringing the costs down to make units affordable, it goes back to what we said earlier in terms of value for money, using design and build, building units at scale, looking at the design in terms of standard layouts that will drive the costs down while still maintaining good architectural quality, and things like going through frameworks with the Office of Government Procurement. All of that will help to drive costs down. Obviously, expanding the serviced sites fund will also help. There are a number of things that can be done. The situation is similar with regard to cost rental because the level of rent depends on the cost of construction, operation and maintenance. If we can lower those costs, we can lower the rent. People can get a significant discount. I know that in Dublin, in places like Dún Laoghaire, rents of €1,700 per month are being paid and if they come down to between €900 and €1,200, that is a very significant reduction. I will hand over to Mr. Dunne now.
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