Seanad debates

Wednesday, 27 June 2018

Commencement Matters

Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund

10:30 am

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

It is good to have the opportunity to come in here to discuss this. I thank Senator Boyhan for the invitation to discuss the possibility of further funding under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund and the option of channelling the LIHAF funding from round 2 directly to local authorities which have identified key sites within their own landbank capable of delivering significant housing projects. That is exactly what we want to do. We want to make local authorities able to develop their own land bank. We have worked closely with them over the past year or two to bring forward their sites, get them organised and bring forward their plans to deliver social, private and affordable housing on their landbank and to utilise that landbank as quickly as they possibly can. With what we want to achieve, we are on the same page here.

As Senator Boyhan will be aware, the aim of the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund is to increase housing supply through enabling infrastructure such as roads, bridges and parks. It is doing that through public funding of almost €200 million across 30 public infrastructure projects in 14 local authorities, with an associated housing delivery of approximately 20,000 units over the coming years from these strategic sites.

The key part, when LIHAF was launched, was to activate these sites. There were no plans to activate these sites and the key aim of LIHAF was to use public funds to step in with key infrastructure requirements to deliver the housing over three or four years following on from 2016. Two years ago, there was little activity and there was no sign of these sites coming on line. The aim was to activate; it was an activation measure.

Additional funding of €50 million over the period to 2021 was signalled in budget 2018 for a second call for proposals under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund. However, as part of the roll-out of targeted serviced sites funding as well as infrastructure supports under the national planning framework, there are now a number of funding streams operating in that space.

For example, significantly increased funding over the course of the ten-year national development plan will be available for enabling infrastructure and regeneration projects through the new €2 billion urban regeneration and development fund and the €1 billion rural regeneration and development fund, announced in February under Project Ireland 2040.

Local authorities will also shortly be able to apply to the new serviced sites fund which will provide Exchequer funding to support delivery of both off-site and on-site infrastructure which can unlock local authority-owned lands in order to deliver affordable homes.

Activation of housing developments at scale is a priority under Pillar 3 of Rebuilding Ireland and LIHAF is a powerful tool in addressing the challenge of housing supply. That was its aim - addressing the supply issue as an activation measure, as the Senator clearly understands. However, the Government is also committed to the delivery of affordable homes by local authorities, and to the regeneration and development of our towns, cities and rural communities.

As the Minister indicated in the Dáil last week, given the crossover between the two regeneration funds and LIHAF, and in consultation with the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, he has concluded that it would be unnecessary duplication to have separate calls under separate funds for the same types of infrastructure projects. In addition, both he and I are eager to give further support to local authorities to bring forward and service publicly-owned sites to provide affordable housing under the recently commenced affordable purchase scheme, which is exactly what the Senator has been raising here. In what we are trying to do, we are on the same page.

Accordingly, the Government has agreed that the €50 million in funds that had been originally allocated for the second call under LIHAF will be amalgamated with the new serviced sites fund to increase the Exchequer funding available from €25 million to €75 million over the period 2018 to 2021. This will be matched with at least €25 million from local authorities towards land servicing costs, bringing the total fund available to €100 million. This funding will help to speed up the development of affordable housing from publicly-owned sites and I expect that the call for proposals under the fund will issue later this week.

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