Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Joan Collins for bringing up this issue in respect of Emmet Road, previously St. Michael's Estate. It is a project I am very familiar with and which I had hoped would be further along at this stage. Covid and other issues have caused delays but this project should have started by now and I am glad we are nearly at the stage of getting planning permission because I had hoped we would be providing homes before now. At least the project is still intact and we are making progress. It is being developed on a cost-rental model, as the Deputy has said. It will be cost-rental housing. We are very much committed to that. The rents reflect the costs of developing it. The Deputy spoke about engagement with the design team. It is important that nobody gets carried away and spends unnecessary money on this. It has to be top-class, A-rated housing and that is what I expect it to be but it must be borne in mind that costs should be kept reasonable. I know the Deputy is not advocating otherwise but I remind the House that this is not-for-profit housing and we must keep costs at a level that will allow us to deliver rents at the right price.

All of us in the Government understand the importance of affordable housing. It was always going to be the second phase as we came out of Rebuilding Ireland and moved onto Housing for All. It is right that we focus on affordable housing. I believe the process for social housing has been fixed. We need to keep that process going and keep putting more money behind it. We now have to concentrate on affordable housing models. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is bringing focus to this issue with the legislation he brought through and with the publication of Housing for All. This project will happen and it will work. The Deputy asked me whether it will work. It will. I have no doubt that it will deliver housing at the right price.

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who is stuck in the Seanad, I formally thank the Deputy and clarify that the site at Emmet Road - not Emmet Terrace like we have in Navan - plans for which are currently being brought forward for development by Dublin City Council, is significant for the development of cost rental in Ireland given its scale and city centre location. We recently had a meeting with the European Investment Bank which reaffirmed its desire to assist with projects like this, for which it has funding available. This is something it wants to do. It is part of projects all over Europe. There are great models all over Europe, involving a myriad of funding streams. We need to tap into all such streams to make things happen.

While the design of the Emmet Road development has not been finalised by the council, current plans propose 484 homes in total, of which approximately 375 will be designated cost-rental homes. The remainder will be provided as social housing. I believe the Deputy will agree with that proposal. I am advised that the council is currently preparing a Part 10 planning application, to include an environmental impact assessment report, for the Emmet Road development with the intent to lodge an application with An Bord Pleanála in the second quarter of next year. I am thankful that we are near the end of the process and ready to put in the planning application.

Any rent levels for the cost-rental homes to be delivered at Emmet Road will not be directly related to either tenant income or the market rent for the area. It will be related to the cost. It is cost rental. That is generally reflective of the needs of the tenants the Deputy is aiming for because, in many cases, rents may be delivered at half the market rate, which is what the Deputy is trying to achieve. As is the central principle of cost rental, the rent for the homes will be a function of the costs incurred in financing, building, managing and maintaining them. That is why it is so important to keep costs low and not unnecessarily high. This is consistent with the provisions of the Affordable Housing Act 2021 approved by the Oireachtas with its full support earlier this year.

Our cost-rental model follows European examples to ensure that a financially self-sustaining sector is developed that delivers more affordable homes for people to rent on a long-term basis, with the homes being retained to become even more affordable over time. This explicit link between the rent and the cost of delivery of the homes means that the homes at Emmet Road will, by necessity, be affordable, efficiently designed and easy to maintain. Dublin City Council is committed to the idea that the design should reflect this with regard to the site layout, unit design, building materials and landscape finishes. Project capital and operating and maintenance costs will be carefully monitored and all decisions will be reviewed throughout each stage of the project to ensure affordability is maintained, which is only right.

Cost rental is not social housing as we know it. It is targeted at those individuals and families on moderate incomes who are above the eligibility threshold for social housing. I believe the Deputy agrees with that idea. An upper limit of €53,000 in respect of annual household income, after income taxes, has been applied to the first cost-rental projects, thereby giving an indicator of the cohort at whom this sector is aimed.

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