Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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945. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the details of the serviced sites fund for affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30730/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I have recently invited applications, under the Serviced Sites Fund, from a number of local authorities to support the provision of key enabling infrastructure on their land, to get their sites ready for affordable housing. 

Given that funding for housing-related infrastructure can now be sought under the €2 billion Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, I have re-directed the €50 million funding, originally earmarked for a further call under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund, to the Serviced Sites Fund, increasing the scale of the Fund from the previously announced €25 million to €75 million.  When local authority co-funding is included, an overall minimum investment of €100 million will be available to offset the costs of providing both on-site and off-site enabling infrastructure for sites in order for them to be brought into use for affordable housing.   

The Serviced Sites Fund is being targeted, in the first instance, to areas where increasing house prices and rents have created a significant affordability gap for first-time buyers and for those who wish to rent: Dublin; Cork; Galway; Meath, Kildare, Louth and Wicklow. 

As regards the affordable homes to be delivered as a result, they will either be made available under affordable purchase or cost rental. In this regard, I have recently commenced the relevant provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, the effect of which is to place the new scheme for affordable purchase on a statutory footing. My Department, in consultation with the Housing Agency and the local government sector, is currently finalising the associated regulations and guidance. It is envisaged that the delivery and allocation of affordable homes, funded under the SSF, will be administered under the provisions of the 2009 Act.

The ambition of local authorities should not be limited to affordable purchase, however. Recognising that it is often those households renting in the main urban areas that face the greatest affordability challenge, the development of a viable cost rental sector is a key Government objective. A cost rental model is being developed by my Department, the Housing Agency, relevant local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies in the context of a number of pilot cost rental projects, and the findings and outcomes of this model will provide the template to develop further projects at scale.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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946. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the parameters of affordable homes further to his statement (details supplied); the way in which affordable is defined; the persons that will be eligible for these homes; the way in which the allocation of the homes will be operated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30731/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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While there is no universally agreed, ideal price/rent to income ratio or minimum residual income requirement, there is general agreement that lower-income households in particular should not be paying more than roughly one third of their disposable income on housing costs.

As Minister, I have been clear that we also need to address issues of housing affordability, recognising the pressures that exist for low- to middle-income households, particularly in Dublin and certain other of our main urban centres. Recognising that people want a choice of affordable purchase and rental, depending on their stage of life and circumstances, a range of initiatives are being progressed, targeting the delivery of more affordable homes to households generally with maximum income of €50,000 for single applicants and €75,000 for joint applicants.

In order to underpin progress in this area, I have now commenced the relevant provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, the effect of which is to place the new scheme for affordable purchase on a statutory footing. The associated detailed regulations and guidance are close to finalisation in consultation with the Housing Agency and local authorities.

An allocation scheme (of priority) will be developed in local authorities, agreed by the elected members, in accordance with principles and qualifying parameters set out in the Regulations.

I am also determined that cost rental homes become a major part of our rental landscape in the future. It is clear that there is a gap between social housing and the rental market that needs to be filled, making a sustainable impact on housing affordability, national competitiveness, and the attractiveness of our main urban centres as places to live and work.

The Housing Agency, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and a number of Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) have been working to get our first cost rental pilot, at Enniskerry Road, ready for tenders to issue shortly. In parallel, Dublin City Council, my Department and the National Development Finance Agency are undertaking detailed modelling and financial appraisal on a major site, at St. Michael’s Estate in Inchicore, to assess its suitability for a significant cost rental development. The work of that multi-disciplinary team is progressing well and should be concluded shortly.