Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien.

Under Housing for All, the Government's strategy to increase housing supply, we have an ambitious target to deliver 300,000 new homes in the next decade. This includes social, affordable purchase, cost rental, private rental, and private ownership housing. It has seen the Government make funding available for 54,000 affordable home interventions, including 36,000 affordable purchase and 18,000 cost rental homes, to be delivered between now and 2030.

Part of this affordable housing delivery will be facilitated under the provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000 Part V requirement. These provisions were amended via the Affordable Housing Act 2021 and came into operation on 3 September 2021. I know that is the matter to which the Deputy is referring. The amendments increase the required Part V contribution from the current level of "up to 10%" to a flat 20% in housing developments. This applies in situations involving five or more houses and enables the use of Part V for the provision of cost rental as well as social and affordable purchase housing. A minimum threshold is in place and requires at least half of the Part V contribution to be for social housing provision. Planning permissions granted before 1 August 2021 are not affected, as the Deputy noted. The contribution remains at 10% for social housing purposes where planning permission is granted before August 2026 in respect of a site purchased between September 2015 and the end of July 2021, when the requirement was at 10%. This transitional arrangement ensures that near-term delivery will continue, mindful that increasing the percentage could make developments unviable where the original financial appraisal was based on the 10% contribution.

I can confirm that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is currently preparing updated Part V guidelines for local authorities under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. These guidelines, which are expected to be finalised shortly, will provide detailed information and clarification on the amended Part V requirements, including those aspects relating to affordable housing.

In the interim and in the period to 2026, the Government has committed the funding to deliver cost rental and affordable purchase homes via approved housing bodies, AHBs, local authorities, the Land Development Agency, LDA, and the first home shared equity scheme. Cost rental homes will be delivered by AHBs, local authorities and the LDA. AHBs are currently supported by the cost rental equity loan funding, while local authorities can access funding for cost rental delivery through the Department's affordable housing fund.

The LDA will also deliver cost rental on its own portfolio of sites and through acquisitions under Project Tosaigh.

The target under Project Tosaigh is the delivery of 5,000 new homes by 2026 for cost rental or sale to eligible households under affordable purchase agreements. In regard to affordable purchase, the first home scheme was launched on 7 July last and aims to support in the region of 8,000 primarily first-time buyer households in acquiring new homes in the private market in the years 2022 to 2026 with an overall budget of €400 million. The remaining affordable homes for purchase will be delivered by a combination of local authorities underpinned by the housing delivery action plans and supported by the affordable housing fund and the Land Development Agency, LDA, through Project Tosaigh as it continues work on public and State land.

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