Mr. John Coleman:

I will answer the last charges first and would like to be clear on this. The LDA's focus is squarely on the provision of social and affordable housing. The LDA is clear about that. Every time we look at a particular site or opportunity, we are working out how we make it more affordable, make sure we deliver in a cost-efficient way, and make sure the housing is affordable for the people and households we are trying to target by looking at their incomes and trying to understand what they can afford to pay. That is supported in many ways in the Land Development Agency Bill and, critically, in the affordable housing Bill which the committee is here to scrutinise. The Land Development Agency Bill supports it in that it will deliver a minimum of 50% affordable housing in addition to the standard 10% of Part V social housing requirement. The critical point is that can be revised upwards depending on the situation. For some of the sites we currently have access to, where affordable housing is absolutely necessary, I imagine the Minister, who can increase the percentage, will require much closer to 100% social and affordable housing on that site. Similar to Shanganagh, I would say 100% social and affordable housing will be required on many sites. The charge that we are going to provide non-affordable housing is wide of the mark, in my view. Our focus is determinedly on social and affordable housing. The Land Development Agency Bill supports that but it is certainly core to the affordable housing Bill.

Moving on to how the affordable housing Bill will work and help the LDA, it will be critical. Two schemes have been proposed which are especially relevant to the LDA. Those are the affordable purchase scheme, where we will make homes on State land available to people at prices they can afford and finance, and, critically, affordable or cost rental. The Bill provides clear direction about how that will evolve and the rules we will have to operate within to deliver cost rental accommodation. That is helpful for us. It provides significant clarity about the future direction. There are more details to emerge through regulations and the scheme. The affordable housing Bill's enactment will be critical to providing the LDA with the direction with which it will deliver the vast majority of its housing output.