Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Renua Ireland)
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265. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43251/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I have currently no plans to re-introduce Affordable Housing Purchase Schemes. However, I do recognise the difficulty faced by households in accessing the housing market and therefore an affordable rental pilot scheme was announced as part of Budget 2016 with €10 million being made available from the proceeds of the sale of Bord Gáis Éireann to fund a pilot in 2016. The details of the Scheme are currently being finalised in my Department and will be completed by end-year, for rollout in early 2016.

The Scheme will be an ongoing annual commitment to secure a long term increase in the supply of affordable properties to meet the needs of those households that would struggle to make rental payments under present market conditions.

The pilot Scheme is expected to work on the basis of tenants paying the majority of the rental cost from their own resources, with the State helping to meet the shortfall. It is intended that the scheme would be made available to employed households on low to moderate incomes, as well as being a possible support option for some households who qualify for social housing support.

A State policy intervention - such as a subsidy - would be applied to bridge the gap between what people can afford, and what the housing market charges. Such a scheme would also be expected to facilitate and incentivise private investment into this sector.

The shortage of supply of housing is at the heart of the housing issues in Ireland and, in that regard, I recently announced, with my colleague the Minister for Finance, a package of measures to boost new housing construction and enhance supply at more affordable prices. These include:

-The enhanced supply of more affordable starter homes in key locations through a targeted rebate of development contributions in Dublin and Cork for housing supplied under certain price levels;

-New National Apartment Planning Guidelines to be issued to reduce the cost of apartment building in Dublin City,

-Changes to aspects of the operation of Strategic Development Zones to enable swifter adjustments to meet market requirements; and,

-The Government’s Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) to examine funding for housing infrastructure on a case-by-case basis.

The package also included a number of measures to support rent stability in the private rented sector, pending additional housing supply coming on stream in the coming years.