John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. Having read through the response that is provided by the Department, I am not sure it will deal with some of the issues that Senator Boyhan has raised.

One of the Government’s key priorities is to address issues of housing affordability. To this end, a multi-stranded approach is being taken to support those low to middle-income households in achieving home ownership. In terms of affordable purchase, last year, my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, commenced the relevant provisions of Part 5 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. This provided a statutory basis for the delivery of the affordable housing purchase scheme. The Minister also made regulations last month, on foot of which local authorities are now moving ahead to develop their schemes of priority, which they will use to manage the allocation of affordable housing that becomes available in their local areas.

The €310 million serviced site fund, SSF, was announced in the last budget, with the core objective of achieving significant delivery of affordable housing. Under the serviced site fund, at least 6,200 affordable homes will be facilitated over the next three years. As part of the first tranche of this funding, in December 2018, ten projects were approved for €43 million of funding under the serviced site fund’s first call for proposals. This will result in the delivery of over 1,400 homes in urban centres with clear affordability challenges in locations across Cork and Dublin. Details of these schemes and their locations are available on the Rebuilding Ireland website and it is expected that the first tranche of affordable homes will come on-stream next year. A second call for further applications under this fund was issued last week. As a result of this, 19 local authorities which carried out economic assessments to identify affordability issues in their areas will be in a position to make applications for funding support for a further bundle of projects to deliver affordable homes to purchase or rent. Furthermore, some 2,350 affordable homes are in the process of being delivered on mainly publicly-owned lands supported through the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF. An additional 5,600 homes will benefit from a LIHAF-related cost reduction, some of which are already coming to market. Again, details of these schemes and their locations are available on the Rebuilding Ireland website. Aside from affordable housing purchase options, the Government has also committed to supporting a new cost rental model. Under the heading of cost rental, the provider supplies accommodation and charges rents sufficient to cover the capital costs associated with delivery, with the ongoing commitments related to the management and maintenance of the development. Cost rental is a model that is delivered at scale in a number of European countries and which in the long term has been shown to help stabilise rent cost fluctuations and deliver security of tenure. To drive delivery, a number of important cost rental pilot projects are being advanced. They include the Enniskerry Road site in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and the site of the former St. Michael's estate in Inchicore, where 50 and 330 homes, respectively, are to be developed. The contract for the work on the Enniskerry Road site is expected to be awarded later in quarter two of this year.

Separately, the Department is engaging with the National Development Finance Agency, the European Investment Bank and the Land Development Agency on the issue of cost rental, with a view to examining the optimum funding and delivery options and establishing a consistent national approach to support delivery at scale in Dublin and other urban areas. The work of the Land Development Agency will also be of crucial importance in delivering more affordable and cost rental housing. The initial portfolio of sites to which the agency has access has the potential in the short to medium term to deliver 3,000 affordable homes in line with the Government's policy of achieving 30% affordable housing on State lands generally.

In parallel, the Dublin local authorities continue to progress a number of other significant housing projects on publicly owned lands, including the redevelopment of O’Devaney Gardens and a site on Oscar Traynor Road in Dublin city, yielding approximately 280 affordable homes. Taken together, programmes are in place, under which nearly 18,000 affordable homes or homes with a LIHAF-related reduction will be delivered. In addition, it is important to note that, in terms of affordability, over 11,200 households have been supported through the Rebuilding Ireland home loan and the help-to buy-scheme, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to using a range of mechanisms and initiatives to support households in addressing the affordability challenges they face.

On the specific issue raised by the Senator in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, I do not have the full facts, but it appears remarkable, in the absence of some glaring omission, that a council would vote not to approve an affordable housing scheme in its area, particularly when Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is one of the areas facing major affordability issues. I will endeavour to get the Minister to respond directly to the Senator on the question of what will happens next.