Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue we face in society. The Government is absolutely focused on ensuring affordable, quality housing solutions are available to everyone in society and this is reflected in the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future. The programme commits to putting affordability at the heart of the housing system through the progression of State-backed affordable housing. This is a key priority of the Minister and since taking office, he has reviewed the situation on the ground with regard to supply, progress to date across affordability measures and options for the expansion of affordable housing delivery.

The statutory basis for the delivery of affordable housing for purchase in the State is Part V of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, which was commenced in June 2018. A total of €310 million has been made available under the serviced sites fund to support the delivery of affordable homes by local authorities for purchase under the scheme. The fund subvents the cost of facilitating infrastructure and a maximum funding amount of €50,000 is available per home. On this basis, at least 6,200 more affordable homes to buy or rent can be facilitated by this measure alone. To date, funding of €127 million has been approved in principle to provide infrastructural works and it will support 35 projects delivering 3,200 homes and 14 local authorities.

Serviced sites funding targets affordable interventions in areas where housing affordability is demonstrated as a challenge. To identify this, all local authorities were invited to complete financial economic assessments to confirm whether the provision of affordable homes was required and economically viable. Local authorities were also asked to assess housing affordability more generally within their areas. I advise the Deputy that Longford County Council did not submit an economic case for assessment to the Department at the time. This indicates the local authority did not identify a housing affordability issue in the county at that time. It is incumbent on the Government that funds are directed to and utilised where demand is greatest and where there is a clearly identified need and the potential for delivery under the scheme.

In preparing to reply to this topical debate I looked at new house prices in Longford on daft.ie. It indicates that of the 263 properties for sale in the county 143 of them, or 54%, have an asking price of less than €200,000 and a significant number of these have prices below €100,000. CSO data shows the emergence of a significant new build premium in the home purchase market. In the 12 months to June 2020, the difference between the median sale price of new and existing homes was €104,000, or 44% higher for new properties at national level. It is evident that many prospective purchasers in Longford are choosing to buy homes from existing housing stock rather than paying a new home premium. Notwithstanding the fact that the new build home price quoted by the Deputy would be considered achievable for moderate income earners, I acknowledge there may be challenges for some in purchasing a home in Longford. To support such households, other measures, such as a help to buy scheme and the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, are also available to eligible purchasers. Nationally, to make up the ownership and make it more affordable, as part of the €7 billion July stimulus plan an enhanced version of the help to buy scheme was announced. This will allow first-time buyers purchasing a newly built home or building one themselves to claim back up to €30,000 paid in income tax or DIRT and bank deposit interest over the past four years.

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