Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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679. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he has considered specific build student accommodation to alleviate the lack of student accommodation and to free up rental properties for families in the area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43327/18]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Research undertaken by the Higher Education Authority into student accommodation provision estimates that there is significant unmet demand nationally and, with the student population forecast to increase to nearly 193,000 by 2024, significant investment is needed in provision of accommodation nationally.

In July 2016, the Government’s Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness identified the under-supply of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) in Ireland and the significant related adverse impact that this deficit was having on the wider private rental sector. The increased provision of PBSA was established as a key priority in addressing the current wider housing crisis.

My Department continues to work closely with the Department of Education and Skills through the Inter-Departmental Working Group on Student Accommodation in examining the issue of student housing and potential policy measures to increase accommodation supply. This Group, which includes stakeholders from the Higher Education Institutes, Union of Students in Ireland and other Government Departments, highlighted important issues in developing new student accommodation projects, including the planning and development finance aspects in assembling new development projects.

The work of this Group contributed directly to the initiation of reforms in the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 which provided for the fast-tracking of planning applications for student housing construction projects of greater than 200 bed-spaces to An Bord Pleanála (which commenced on 3 July 2017). In addition, the legislation provides for the availability of low-cost financing from the Housing Finance Agency to the Higher Education Institutes specifically to support the delivery of new student accommodation projects.

My Department also fed into the preparation of the National Student Accommodation Strategy which was launched by the Department of Education and Skills in July 2017 – a specific action committed to under Rebuilding Ireland. This policy document was developed with input from the key stakeholders in the sector and includes eight key targets and 27 actions to support the delivery of an increased supply of PBSA.

These and other measures by my Department have assisted in delivering a significant increase in the level of PBSA projects coming forward nationally.

Recent analysis from the Higher Education Authority has indicated that, by September 2018, over 5,500 bed-spaces had been delivered since the publication of Rebuilding Ireland and some 4,800 further bed-spaces are currently under construction nationally.

In addition, over 7,900 bed-spaces have received planning permission but are yet to commence construction. The scale of this level of additional student accommodation should exert a downward pressure on the cost of such accommodation, through availability of supply and competition.