Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1, 4 and 5 together.

Of course we need to provide affordable homes for people. The approach we are taking is different from the way it was done previously. What ended in 2011 was an affordable housing scheme. We are now trying to put together affordable housing projects as part of schemes on a case-by-case basis. We have asked local authorities to publish, in a very transparent way and for everybody to see, the 700 sites throughout the State where local authorities own public land that is suitable for housing. We have asked local authorities to produce a development plan for each of those sites. We want the local authorities to design an affordable element within those plans. Sometimes it will be a certain percentage of social housing, a certain percentage of affordable housing and a certain parentage of private housing. Depending on where the site is in the country and the demand in that area, the construct of that affordable housing plan will be different.

Last week, after quite a lot of negotiation and discussion with Dublin City Council and even though Sinn Féin voted against it in the end, there was agreement among a majority of councillors on Dublin City Council on how, through a massive planning process, we would develop on the Poolbeg Irish Glass Bottle site, which is a privately owned piece of land. This will involve some affordable and social housing. It will also include some specialist social housing for older people and so on. We are trying to ensure we have mixed tenure, diverse, healthy communities as part of many projects around the country.

Sometimes projects may be all affordable housing and sometimes they may be 10%, 15% or 20% affordable housing. The prudent thing to do here is to demand of local authorities to come back to us with proposals that suit the area and the site. We will then sign off on the affordable housing projects. We need to give guidance to some local authorities around the thresholds under which and over which people will qualify for those affordable housing schemes. Let us consider the docklands in Dublin as an example. Affordable housing was provided through many of the apartment developments in the docklands and the affordable housing was allocated through the drawing of lots. That is the kind of template we want to see as part of mixed tenure communities.

With regard to Deputy O'Sullivan's comment, we are not giving away sites to private developers; it is not happening. We will ensure we will get a full State public interest dividend from every one of those sites. The dividend may be in the form of affordable housing, it may be social housing or it could be something else. If appropriate, it could be cash but in most cases I do not think it will be. We are trying to do social housing differently from the ways in which it was done in the past. We are trying to build stronger and more progressive communities than has been the case previously in how the State approached social housing. It is in this context I encourage local authorities to be ambitious in their proposals around affordable housing schemes as part of how they use and develop landbanks we have throughout the country and which have the capacity to deliver 50,000 houses. I believe it is about 5,000 acres over 700 sites. It is a significant opportunity. We are doing it differently from the way it was done in the past. It will result in much healthier communities and a lot more affordable housing.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The Government has no plans at this stage to introduce a new affordable housing purchase scheme of the kind that existed up to 2011. However, the Government recognises the housing affordability pressures in certain areas and is determined to see increases in the supply of high-quality social and affordable homes, to buy or rent, as quickly as possible, particularly in the major urban areas where demand is greatest.

At a strategic level, under the new 20-year national planning framework, there will be an emphasis on managing and utilising State lands to deliver housing and to ensure an active and healthy market for development land. The opening up of State-owned lands for the development of mixed tenure housing is also a key objective under Rebuilding Ireland. Rebuilding Ireland also commits to the introduction of an affordable rental scheme to enhance the provision of affordable accommodation for households currently paying a disproportionate amount of disposable income on rent. As set out in the strategy for the rental sector, this commitment is being progressed through kick-starting supply in rent pressure zones and leveraging the value of State-owned sites to deliver units for rental, targeting middle income households.

On 27 April 2017, I published the Rebuilding Ireland housing land map, a vital initial step in the new strategic approach to State land management. The datasets published on the map include details of more than 700 local authority and housing agency owned sites, totalling some 1,700 ha, as well 30 sites covering about 200 ha owned by State or semi-State bodies. The map is available to view on the Rebuilding Ireland website.

It is crucial that much-needed housing for families and individuals on the social housing waiting list, and for those on low to middle incomes, is delivered from local authority and State-owned sites as soon as possible. In the first instance, the specific approach to housing delivery on each site, including the optimum tenure mix, is a matter for the local authority concerned, the elected council members included, who best understand the housing needs in their area. In this regard, I welcome the fact that two of the Dublin local authorities have brought forward four key large-scale sites capable of delivering 3,000 of these new homes, and I expect other local authorities to follow suit.

Mixed tenure development on publicly owned land provides the best way forward to deliver social and affordable housing quickly in a fully integrated and sustainable community. Importantly, it allows for risk-sharing and far quicker delivery of social housing and badly needed housing more generally as part of the full development of individual sites. Opening up the supply of State land in this way, for mixed tenure housing, is a critically important intervention in addressing a situation where the pace of recovery in the house development sector is slower than we would like it to be. In practical terms, the development of these sites will mean accelerating social housing delivery and securing more homes for sale and rent at lower and more affordable price points.

I am committed to ensuring the State secures the most beneficial use of its currently under-utilised assets for much-needed housing in the shortest possible timeframe and maximises the public good dividend through increased and speedier delivery of high-quality social and affordable homes. My Department is working closely with local authorities and other State agencies to ensure that the optimum mix of social and affordable housing is delivered from public landbanks in the shortest possible timeframe and in a manner which achieves value for money and the best possible housing outcomes. The approach to be adopted to individual sites will be decided case by case, taking account of the specific aspects of each site and the particular local housing considerations arising.

See this speech in context