Written answers

Tuesday, 27 July 2021

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Housing Provision

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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787. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the average cost of building council housing on publicly-owned land that is fully serviced. [41151/21]

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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788. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the average cost of building 1, 2, 3 and 4 bed homes on fully serviced publicly-owned land. [41152/21]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 787 and 788 together.

My Department assesses, approves and records local authority social housing delivery on a project basis, rather than on the basis of individual unit types.

As Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) funded construction projects by local authorities must, like all publicly-funded construction programmes, comply with the Public Spending Code and Capital Works Management Framework, my Department periodically issues Unit Cost Ceilings (UCCs) for each local authority area, for use as a key benchmark for the development and costing of scheme designs at capital appraisal stage. While not a record of actual delivery costs, UCCs are based on an analysis of returned data from tendered social housing schemes over an extended period and updated based on published tender index information as required.

To monitor tender cost trends and to inform the UCCs levels, my Department analyses the tender data for the construction cost element of new build schemes approved under the SHIP and Capital Assistance Scheme four stage approval processes for each unit type, where sufficient information is available to allow such costs to be extrapolated and where the information available is appropriate for comparison purposes.

Outlined in the tables below are average construction costs (incl. VAT) per unit type, recorded as part of the aforementioned analysis for projects tendered in each of the years 2019 to 2020. The tables also set out the range of costs that make up this average for each unit type. The range of costs recorded vary, depending on design, location and on the level of abnormal requirements for each scheme, for instance existing site conditions, demolitions, service diversions and site access requirements. Abnormal costs are also separately identified in the tables below.

- Construction Costs* (incl abnormals) Construction Costs* (incl abnormals) Abnormal Costs Abnormal Costs
Average Cost Per Unit Range of Costs Per Unit Average CostPer Unit Range of Costs Per Unit
2020 2020 2020 2020
1 bed house €185,246 €139k - €237k €25,181 €3k - €46k
2 bed house €195,392 €129k - €263k €25,115 €6k - €66k
3 bed house €214,076 €152k - €342k €25,121 €6k - €66k
4 bed house €263,204 €205k - €321k €41,527 €19k - €66k
1 bed apartment €197,087 €169k - €269k €32,919 €24k - €54k
2 bed apartment €230,300 €198k - €306k €16,882 €7k - €54k
3 bed apartment N/A N/A N/A N/A
2019 2019 2019 2019
1 bed house €189,320 €144k - €208k €26,699 €7k - €47k
2 bed house €198,174 €136k - €255k €20,022 €4k - €58k
3 bed house €226,455 €131k - €346k €19,227 €4k - €58k
4 bed house €234,794 €192k - €298k €19,510 €4k - €58k
1 bed apartment €291,762 €129k - €354k €32,609 €4k - €43k
2 bed apartment €290,902 €170k - €373k €26,249 €4k - €43k
3 bed apartment €323,407 €232k - €398k €27,379 €4k - €43k
* Construction Costs as shown, are derived from unit cost analysis and capture the construction cost element only incl abnormals (i.e. not all-in costs)

The above costs relate to the construction element of the all-in delivery cost. Other items that make up the all-in total include:

- Design/technical fees: Design fees vary from project to project, depending on the location, size and complexity of a scheme (and depending on whether design services are provided by a local authority in-house or via external appointment). As a guideline/indicator, design fee are generally expected to range between 7.5% to 12.5% of construction costs.

- Land cost: Land costs will vary significantly from project to project, depending on location and ownership status (i.e. land costs could vary from existing local authority land at no cost to land purchased at market value).

- Utilities: Connection fees for Irish Water, ESB, gas, etc. As a guideline/indicator, utility connection costs are generally in the order of €7k per unit.

- Other Costs: Other items that make up the all-in delivery cost can include site investigations/surveys, archaeological requirements, Percent for Art contributions - and will vary from scheme to scheme

To assist in policy development and to provide evidenced based data, in October 2020, the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, published an ‘Analysis of Social Housing Build Programme’ which examined the social housing build programme over the years 2016 to 2019 and considered issues such as Use of Build Delivery; Type of Units, Cost & Speed of Delivery and Cost Efficiency and Market Interaction. The IGEES analysis noted the range of average costs which highlighted the diversity of costs for delivery of new build units across different developments and locations. The paper is available at the following link: .

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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789. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the estimated cost to provide a home to each person on local authority homeless lists, that is, excluding use of the private rental market in 2022. [41153/21]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Increasing the supply of public, social and affordable homes is priority of this Government. The Programme for Government includes a commitment to deliver 50,000 new social homes with a focus on new build homes. This commitment was underpinned by investment of €3.3bn towards housing programmes in Budget 2021.

The focus of the Government is to reduce and prevent homelessness to the greatest extent possible with the overriding objective to support households to exit homelessness into homes through the various social housing supports available. My Department publishes detailed monthly and quarterly reports on homelessness, based on data provided by housing authorities. The monthly report outlines details of individuals utilising State-funded emergency accommodation arrangements that are overseen by housing authorities. The quarterly progress report includes data on the number of exits from homelessness achieved on a quarterly basis. The monthly and quarterly progress reports are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/80ea8-homelessness-data/. Progress continues to be made in providing homes for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. In 2020 almost 5,900 exits from homelessness to a social housing tenancy were achieved.

Social housing solutions are provided using a wide variety of funding and delivery mechanisms which vary in cost depending on numerous factors including the delivery mechanism, the size of the property and the geographical location. Accordingly, my Department does not hold the specific details requested by the Deputy.

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