Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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591. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the progress his Department has made in respect of the establishment of and roll-out of an affordable housing scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31568/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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As Minister, I have been clear that we 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. The delivery of targeted affordable housing, for purchase and rent, was a priority topic at last week’s Summit which I held with local authority Chief Executives. It is also featuring prominently at the post-Housing Summit meeting with local authority Directors of Service this week.

A three-pronged, targeted approach to affordable housing provision is being pursued. Firstly, in terms of affordable housing for purchase, I have now commenced the relevant provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, to place the new scheme for affordable purchase on a statutory footing. This Scheme will be delivered by local authorities developing their sites in key locations. The Scheme will be complementary to other Government Schemes which help first-time buyers to buy a home, such as the Help to Buy Scheme and the new Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan.

Secondly, I am also determined that cost rental homes become a major part of our rental landscape in the future. 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. Cost rental is an important component of progressive housing systems around Europe.

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. Once we have proven the concept through the pilot projects I plan to roll out cost rental across other suitable sites.

Finally, in order to support local authorities to get their sites ready for affordable housing, I am providing additional funding for enabling infrastructure via the Serviced Sites Fund. Given that housing-related infrastructure will now be able to avail of funding under the €2 billion Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, I am re-directing the €50 million funding for Phase 2 of 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 provided to those sites that require infrastructural investment in order for them to be brought into use for affordable housing. The call for proposals under the Serviced Site Fund issued two weeks ago.

From engagements with the local authorities in Dublin, the wider Greater Dublin Area, as well as Cork and Galway cities, their initial estimates suggest that they have lands with the potential to deliver some 4,000 new affordable homes. My Department is continuing to work with the key local authorities and the Housing Agency to identify sites which would see the level of ambition increase to at least 10,000 new affordable homes from local authority-owned land, and that analysis is progressing well.