Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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473. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the position regarding the progress which has been made on the national differential rent scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19960/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government commits to bringing forward a package of social housing reforms, which includes standardising the differential rents regime across the country to ensure fairness. 

Work on the review of the current rent schemes has been ongoing and I have asked my Department to prepare recommendations regarding the potential for a standardised local authority rents system, which I will consider in due course as part of the package of social housing reforms.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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474. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will report on the review of co-living development in his Department; the terms of reference; the person or body undertaking the review; the expected timeline for delivery of the review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19961/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The new Programme for Government identifies the need to avoid over-concentration of particular housing types in areas, by requiring local authorities to complete housing need and demand assessments to inform delivery of an appropriate mix of housing typologies to cater for the needs of disparate household types and sizes. 

Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments Guidelines for Planning Authorities, sets out policy in relation to a range of apartment formats needed to meet the accommodation needs of different household types and sizes.  This includes the potential for a ‘Shared Accommodation’ or ‘Co-Living’ format, which comprises professionally managed rental accommodation, where living accommodation, that may comprise individual rooms, is rented within an overall development, that must also include access to shared or communal facilities and amenities, but not shared bathroom or toilet facilities.

Between 2018 and June 2020, only a small number of co-living bedspaces were approved by An Bord Pleanála under the Strategic Housing Development application process and there have been no such developments completed in Dublin to date.  So this concept represents a very small portion of the housing sector.

Nonetheless, I believe it is important to review the concept of co-living in an Irish context, at this stage, having regard to standards and accommodation needs.  I am considering the most appropriate mechanism for doing so.