Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The housing land initiative, HLI, includes the regeneration of a number of significant development sites on lands in the ownership of Dublin City Council, including St. Michael's Estate site in Inchicore. Feasibility studies on the sites, which were presented to and passed by the elected members of Dublin City Council on 9 January 2017, included the council’s agreed optimum mix of 30% social, 20% affordable and 50% private homes on these lands. The studies also agreed the methodology for community consultation. The council is staggering the procurement process for the sites and a project board, including representation from my Department, and individual project teams have been set up and are working to progress the HLI programme.

As part of this Government’s reform of the Irish housing system, it is clear that we need a third sector to complement social and private market housing delivery. That is why the development of a new cost rental sector is so strategically important. Delivery of cost rental homes into the market at scale will make a sustainable impact on housing affordability, national competitiveness and the enhancement and liveability of our cities as places to live and work.

My Department and I remain committed to working with Dublin City Council and other councils to ensure we make the delivery of this model a reality. To advance this, we are learning from a pilot project in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and the detailed examination of similar models operating elsewhere. We are also working with the European Investment Bank and other key stakeholders. Dublin City Council, my Department and the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, have carried out detailed modelling and financial appraisal on the St. Michael's Estate site to assess its suitability for a significant cost rental development. The work of that multidisciplinary team is progressing well and this will be of significant assistance in rolling out a broader cost rental programme across Dublin and certain other large urban areas.

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