Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will know, 2022 represented the commencement of a very ambitious programme of delivery of affordable homes under the provisions of the schemes which we introduced with the Affordable Housing Act 2021. This saw significant delivery of cost-rental homes by Approved Housing Bodies, AHBs, in particular through the cost-rental equity loan, the first cost-rental and affordable purchase homes also delivered through the Land Development Agency, LDA, and the first affordable homes for purchase made available via the first home scheme and, indeed, by our local authorities. This momentum will continue in 2023 with a pipeline of housing delivery in place and being developed by local authorities, by AHBs and by the LDA as well as homes being made available through the first home scheme. Local authorities have begun systematically collating information on delivery of affordable homes in their areas, including validated delivery from AHBs and the LDA, in the same manner as is currently done for social housing for submissions to my Department. We expect that in the coming weeks.

Separately, the first home scheme has confirmed it has issued more than 800 approvals to date on applications received from first-time buyers. Local authorities have been approved for affordable housing funding of more than €210 million for 42 projects across 15 local authorities which will assist in the delivery of more than 2,800 affordable homes for purchase or rent. The 2022 returns to which the Deputy refers are currently being prepared by the local authorities. Informed by returns of this data which is scheduled literally over the coming weeks, I expect that my Department will be in a position to report the confirmed 2022, not just affordable housing delivery, we will break it down by cost rental, affordable purchase and first home scheme, but also the delivery of 2022 social homes by the end of this quarter. I actually expect it by the end of February or early March.

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