Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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611. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to outline his plans for the introduction of a new affordable housing scheme to assist those on modest incomes to buy a home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48741/17]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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627. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to outline the options available for affordable housing for persons not eligible for social housing; the way in which to access these options; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49025/17]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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629. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to outline his plans to introduce an affordable housing scheme; the timeframe for its introduction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49046/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 611, 627 and 629 together.

The Government recognises the housing affordability pressures faced by households with low to moderate income, particularly in parts of the country where housing costs are highest. Therefore, housing affordability has been examined by my Department, in consultation with the Housing Agency, local authorities and other stakeholders as part of the targeted review of Rebuilding Ireland. The examination was carried out under the generally accepted premise that housing is deemed affordable where households, particularly low- or moderate-income households, are paying no more than a third of their disposable income on meeting their accommodation needs.

Through the Rebuilding Ireland programme, Government policy is clearly focused on increasing housing supply, particularly the supply of homes at more affordable price points. Recent housing activity reports, available on www.rebuildingireland.ie, show that strong supply-side measures introduced under Rebuilding Ireland are beginning to have a positive impact, with all output indicators showing positive upward trends:

- Planning permissions are up 49%: 19,246 new homes were granted planning permission in the year to end June;

- Commencement Notices are up by 49%: notices for 17,323 new homes nationwide were submitted in the year to end September; and

- ESB connections to the National Grid are up 26%, at 17,958 homes nationally in the year to end September, 8,177 of which are in the Greater Dublin Area.

Regarding those most challenged in terms of affordability, there were 91,600 households on the social housing waiting list in 2016. The Government is committed to meeting this need and that is why I have increased the overall target for new social housing delivery by 2021 under Rebuilding Ireland from 47,000 to 50,000 homes, with the total ring-fenced investment increasing from €5.35 billion to over €6 billion to 2021. In order to meet the overall social housing need, there is also a target to deliver 84,000 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) tenancies. Over 19,000 households had their needs met in 2016, with a further 21,000 such supports due to be delivered in 2017.

The Government is also committed to ensuring there is a supply of affordable homes. A range of measures have been taken, for example, planning reforms to provide flexibility to deliver viable housing schemes and apartment developments in the right locations, and the provision of funding to service housing lands through the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF), to deliver new homes that are more viable and more affordable than would otherwise be the case.

In Budget 2018, the Government has removed significant obstacles to building more homes, more quickly, and at more affordable prices by:

- Investing more in direct house-building by the State;

- Removing the Capital Gains Tax incentive to hold on to residential land;

- Escalating penalties for land hoarding; and

- Providing a new, more affordable finance vehicle for builders through House Building Finance Ireland (HBFI).

In addition, as announced in the Budget, I am providing funding of €25 million, over 2018 and 2019, to unlock local authority-owned lands specifically for affordable housing, using models such as co-operative housing initiatives which have already proven to be successful but are now needed at greater scale. The criteria for accessing this new fund are currently being considered by my Department and I expect to be in a position to announce details in the coming weeks.