Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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299. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of affordable housing units his Department plans to build from 30 June 2021 to 30 June 2026; the amount of investment the State will make in these units in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32991/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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This Government is absolutely focused on ensuring that affordable, quality housing solutions are available to everyone in Irish society and this is reflected in the Programme for Government, "Our Shared Future". The Programme commits to putting affordability at the heart of the housing system through the progression of State-backed affordable housing.

This commitment is reflected in Budget 2021, which provides for an overall investment of €3.3 billion for the delivery of housing programmes. This represents an increase of €641m or 24% on 2020 and the single biggest spend on housing by any Government to fund the largest build programme, in the history of the State.

Importantly, €110 million of this amount will be provided to deliver a new national Affordable Purchase Shared Equity Scheme for first time buyers and a new funding model to accelerate the delivery of cost rental homes through the Approved Housing Body sector.

€75 million is allocated for the Affordable Purchase Shared Equity Scheme, aimed at first-time buyers buying new-build homes on private land. It will enable first-time buyers to buy a new home at a price they can afford, much sooner than would otherwise have been the case. The equity stake will fill the gap between the mortgage people can get, and the price of a new home. In so doing, it will build confidence in the construction sector to increase housing supply. The proposed price caps for the equity scheme are reflective of the median price of a new home bought by first-time buyers, and are targeted to address the affordability gap in different areas. It is anticipated that the Scheme will be supported and operated in partnership with the retail banks - depending on the final design, this will allow support for c.1,500 to 2,000 households to buy new homes in the first year.

The new Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) is the first dedicated funding stream for Cost Rental housing in Ireland. CREL will assist Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in developing or acquiring new homes for Cost Rental, to accelerate implementation of this new housing sector in the immediate term. The scheme harnesses the expertise and capacity of AHBs, amply demonstrated in the provision of social housing, and builds a foundation for further AHB involvement in Cost Rental.

Under the CREL scheme, the Housing Agency will make loans available to AHBs on very favourable terms to cover up to 30% of the development or acquisition costs of new homes for Cost Rental. The Budget allocation of €35 million is intended to assist the delivery and tenanting of c. 350 new homes this year, on top of the 50 new Cost Rental apartments scheduled for delivery later this year at Enniskerry Road, Stepaside.

To date, my Department has issued two broad-based Serviced Sites Fund (SSF) calls for proposals to local authorities. Funding of almost €200 million has been approved in principle in support of 40 infrastructure projects in 14 local authority areas across 9 counties, to assist in the delivery of almost 4,200 affordable homes for purchase or for rent.

Details of 35 SSF projects which received approval in principle under the two SSF calls to date are available on the Rebuilding Ireland website as follows:

Call 1.

Call 2 .

In addition to these projects, approval in principle has also been given to five further applications for SSF funding, namely, Dublin City Council’s projects in Emmet Road and Oscar Traynor Road, Fingal County Council’s projects in Ballymastone, Donabate, and Hayestown, Rush and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council’s project in Shanganagh.

In making an application for SSF, each local authority must demonstrate that an affordability issue exists in the area in question and that it is viable to deliver homes, for purchase or rent, with a price reduction of at least 10% below open market values.

In addition, the Land Development Agency is tasked with working with Government Departments, Local Authorities, state agencies, and other stakeholders to assemble strategic sites in urban areas and ensure the sustainable development of social and affordable homes for rent and purchase. On its establishment, the LDA had access to an initial portfolio of 8 sites that have near term delivery potential for approximately 3,400 new homes. Whilst the tenure mix for these homes has not been finalised, the LDA will have regard to Government policy, and all appropriate legislation, in considering the appropriate tenure mix for developments on public land, as well as the criteria for the operation of cost rental and affordable housing schemes. All these measures are designed to increase housing supply at a time when needed most.

Finally, the Government has also approved the drafting of amending provisions to Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, for inclusion in the Affordable Housing Bill 2021 as Committee Stage amendments. This will see an increase in the current 10% social housing requirement related to all new housing developments to a mandatory 20% for social and affordable requirements.

Finally, the Government’s upcoming Housing strategy ‘Housing for All’ will detail an extensive range of measures and ambitious targets to underpin the delivery of affordable housing over the coming years.