Mr. Feargal ? Coigligh:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Chathaoirleach agus leis na baill den choiste.

I thank the committee for the invitation to appear before it today. I welcome the opportunity to update members on the progress made since the publication of Housing for All in September 2021.

I am assistant secretary in the housing policy legislation and governance division in the Department. My role is to support the implementation of Housing for All working with colleagues across the Department. I am accompanied by my colleagues, the assistant secretaries, Ms Áine Stapleton and Ms Caroline Timmons.

It has been 20 months since Housing for All was published. We have seen significant progress in delivery over that time but the landscape in which we have been operating has also changed quite considerably. In the past year alone, the Department has contended with the impacts from the war in Ukraine, rising construction costs, increased energy prices and rising interest rates. We have had to keep the core issues and challenges we face in sharp focus while remaining agile in adapting to emerging issues.

An in-built review mechanism is written into Housing for All for this very purpose. The Housing for All updated action plan, published on 2 November, sets out how the Government is responding to these emerging issues. A total of 33 priority actions were identified in the review that will activate and accelerate the delivery of housing supply, whilst also continuing to deliver on the fundamental reforms set out in the plan.

Before I touch on where the Department's efforts will lie for the rest of 2023 and beyond, I want to highlight some of the things already achieved since the publication of Housing for All. We have seen the highest social housing build output, in 2022, for a number of decades. We have seen delivery of the State's ambition to create a new form of tenure called "cost rental", first set out in the Affordable Housing Act 2021, with real people now living in real cost-rental homes. We have seen homes provided under a new affordable purchase scheme, the first affordable purchase homes in more than a decade. The first home shared equity scheme was launched, which helps first-time buyers and fresh start home-buyers purchase a newly built home in a private development anywhere in the State. We have extended the help-to-buy scheme and enhanced the local authority home loan. Project Tosaigh was launched to support the activation of stalled private developments. The Croí Cónaithe - cities - scheme was launched to support the building of apartments for sale to owner-occupiers. A comprehensive review of planning legislation has significantly progressed and as the committee members all know, has just completed pre-legislative scrutiny. Considerable work has gone into the drafting of the proposed land value sharing and urban development zones legislation and a revised general scheme was published on Friday last. The exemplar housing first scheme has been expanded and by the end of 2022, a total of 804 individuals are supported through this programme. The new vacant property refurbishment grant was launched, and will now be expanded to homes which can be rented to private tenants. A whole suite of protections for tenants have been legislated for including rent increase caps in rent pressure zones, restricted deposit amounts, extended notice periods and the introduction of tenancies of unlimited duration.

Housing for All sets out a pathway to delivering an average of 33,000 homes a year over the lifetime of the plan. The funding required has been secured. The guaranteed State investment of more than €4 billion a year to support the largest State-led building programme ever will provide the certainty the sector needs to deliver on the ambition of Housing for All. Budget 2023 will support the delivery of in excess of 11,000 social homes, including 9,100 new build homes, and 5,500 affordable homes this year. More than €1 billion will be spent on affordable measures in 2023.

In 2022, the first full year of Housing for All delivery, almost 30,000 homes were completed. This is an increase of 45% compared to 2021 but, importantly, it is an increase of more than 41% from 2019 completions, the last full pre-Covid pandemic year. In 2022, almost 57,000 homes were either commenced or completed.

The 2022 social housing figures, published yesterday, show that more new build social homes were delivered last year than in any year since the mid-1970s. Last year also represents the first year of affordable housing delivery in a generation. From a standing start, real progress has been made in 2022 with the initial delivery of affordable homes arising out of the new affordable housing schemes introduced in the 2021 Act. This delivery will only strengthen throughout 2023 and beyond. The Department is completely focused on scaling up the delivery of new homes, be they social, affordable, for the private rental sector or for private owner occupation.

This year will see the extension of phase 1 and the launch of phase 2 of Project Tosaigh to support the activation of stalled private developments. There will be a second call under Croí Cónaithe cities to support the construction of apartments in urban areas.

The Department, with the support of colleagues across government, will progress recommendations from a cost of construction analysis and a cost of finance study that have recently been completed, all of which will support the increase in supply needed.

We have also commenced a comprehensive review of the private rental sector to take account of the significant regulatory changes in recent years. The Government decided on this course of action in the context of the introduction of the winter pause in evictions. The aim is to ensure our housing system provides an efficient, affordable, safe and secure framework that works for tenants and those who provide homes to tenants. An issues paper will be published on the review shortly, with the aim of concluding the review by the summer following stakeholder engagement. Several additional measures are being put in place to mitigate potential incidences of homelessness. These include the expansion of the first home and tenantin situschemes, as well as the development of a cost-rental tenant in situscheme. A legislative first right of refusal for existing tenants has also been worked on.

Overall, the Department is focused on delivering and increasing delivery across all fronts. The committee will be aware, for example, of the changes to planning requirements for social homes delivery and a significant new programme of delivery using modern methods of construction in the context of major funding to relieve local authorities with indebted land. In recent weeks, the Government decided on several additional measures, such as an increase in tenant in situpurchase in the context of the ending of the winter eviction ban period. These measures are part of that evolving agile response that will continue to be taken to meet our housing challenges and that will be reflected in the annual review process. This is a key part of the Housing for All policy. The committee will appreciate that Housing for All is a cross-government initiative, with many actions for many Departments. My colleagues and I will be happy to answer as many questions as we can today.