Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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1346. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the target date for the commencement of an affordable housing scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35830/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I commenced the relevant provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, to place the new scheme for affordable purchase on a statutory footing, on 18 June 2018. This Scheme will be delivered by local authorities developing their sites in key locations. The Scheme complements 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.

In addition, it is important that cost rental homes become a major part of our rental landscape in the future to fill a gap between social housing and the rental market, making a sustainable impact on housing affordability, national competitiveness, and the attractiveness of our main urban centres as places to live and work. A number of pilot cost rental schemes are being advanced at Enniskerry Road, in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown and at St. Michael’s Estate in Inchicore, Dublin 8. Once these have progressed satisfactorily, I plan to roll out cost rental across other suitable sites.

Furthermore, in order to support local authorities to get their sites ready for affordable housing, I am providing substantial Exchequer funding of €75 million for enabling infrastructure via the Serviced Sites Fund. 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 in June, with a closing date of 31st August. The bids received from local authorities under this first call are now being assessed and I expect to make initial funding awards early next month.

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.