Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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84. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the roll-out of the serviced sites fund for affordable housing; the number of affordable units that will be delivered in 2019; when an affordable housing scheme statutory instrument will be provided to councils; and when local authorities will be in a position to accept applications for affordable housing. [47147/18]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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102. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the way in which the affordable housing scheme outlined in budget 2019 will be rolled out; the number of affordable homes that will be provided in 2019 as a result of this scheme; if it is within the power of an individual local authority to fund and provide its own scheme; if so, if there are regulations that the local authorities would have to comply with; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47176/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 84 and 102 together.

A multi-stranded approach is being taken to the targeted delivery of affordable housing. In order to support the affordable housing programmes of local authorities, the Government has committed €310 million, over the three years 2019 to 2021, under the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF) announced as part of Budget 2019. The funding is available for key facilitating infrastructure, on public lands, to support the provision of affordable homes to purchase or rent. I envisage a maximum amount of SSF funding of €50,000 per affordable home and on this basis at least 6,200 affordable homes could be facilitated.

A first call for proposals under the Fund issued to the four Dublin local authorities; Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Louth and Cork County Councils, and Cork and Galway City Councils. Fifteen proposals were received, from nine of the local authorities targeted under this first call and I expect to announce funding decisions in relation to these applications shortly. I expect infrastructure works on approved projects to begin as soon as possible thereafter and delivery of affordable homes from late 2019/early 2020 onwards.

More broadly, all local authorities are carrying out economic assessments of the requirement for affordable housing in their areas and the viability to deliver such affordable housing from their sites. My Department hosted a workshop for local authorities last week to discuss these issues.

A second call for proposals under the Fund will be made shortly. The scope of that call will be influenced by the information received from local authorities, as part of the aforementioned assessments, which they have been requested to submit by 30 November.

In terms of the type of affordable housing that will be delivered on local authority sites it may be affordable housing for purchase, for example, under the recently commenced provisions of Part 5 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, or cost rental, which is being advanced on a number of pilot sites before being rolled out further. The Regulations to support the operation of Part 5 will be finalised shortly.