Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

196. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of affordable rental homes that will be completed by the end of 2021 via the cost rental equity loan. [49818/21]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

197. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of affordable rental homes that will be completed by the end of 2021 via the serviced sites fund and the affordable housing funding scheme. [49819/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 196 and 197 together.

Budget 2021 allocated €35m for a new Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) scheme, under which the Government is making loans to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) on favourable terms, for up to 30% of the capital cost of new homes for Cost Rental. Following a Call for Proposals from AHBs in December 2020, a rigorous assessment process was undertaken by my Department and the Housing Agency.

In February 2021, I announced approval-in-principle for the CREL financing of 390 new homes at eight sites across Ireland this year, to be owned, managed and maintained by the Clúid, Respond and Tuath AHBs. These projects are located in Dublin, the surrounding Greater Dublin Area and Cork City, with each development delivering cost-covering rents for homes on average at least 25% below comparable open market prices.

In total, approximately 115 Cost Rental homes will be delivered by end 2021. The first of these which were CREL-financed homes, have been delivered by the Clúid AHB at Taylor Hill, Balbriggan, where tenants moved in to their new homes at the end of August. The cost-covering rents for these Taylor Hill homes are averaging 38% below comparable open-market prices in the area, ranging from €935 per month for a two-bed terraced house to €1,150 for a four-bed detached house. The Clúid AHB owns, manages and maintains the 25 homes, which they acquired with the assistance of a €2.4m CREL loan. A further 50 Cost Rental apartments are due for completion shortly at Enniskerry Road, for which tenancy applications have already been accepted.

Delivery of CREL homes is subject to construction schedules, which, together with housing projects more generally, were impacted by COVID delays at the beginning of this year. The initial timeframes submitted by AHBs were based on all efforts being made to deliver the homes as soon as possible. As AHBs sought to use CREL funding to allow developers to construct homes that may otherwise not have been delivered, the commencement of construction on these specific units was, in most instances, not possible until the lifting of relevant COVID restrictions.

The revised timeframes for delivery under the first CREL call are currently being collated. Based on delivery estimations from the relevant AHBs, a further estimated 134 additional Cost Rental homes under CREL 1 call will be in place by end Q1 2021. The remaining CREL homes will come on stream by Q4 2022.

Affordable homes on local authority land are to be made available through the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF), previously known as the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF). Currently, 40 AHF projects, across 14 local authorities, have received approval in principle and will assist in the delivery of just over 4,200 affordable homes to buy or to rent.

The pilot Cost Rental development at Enniskerry Road in Dún Laoghaire, which has benefitted from AHF subvention, will see cost-covering rents for 50 two-bedroom apartments of €1,200 per month, in an area where comparable market rents are c. €2,000 per month. The first affordable purchase homes supported by AHF funding, will be delivered in Quarter 4 of 2021 at Boherboy Road, Cork City.

Just one year after coming in to office, this Government had introduced what is a brand new form of tenure in Cost Rental. It has placed Cost Rental on a statutory basis through the provisions of the Affordable Housing Act 2021, the first ever stand-alone affordable housing legislation in the State. It has established administrative provisions and provided the funds which have seen the first tenants already in long-term and secure homes, at up to 50% of the comparable market cost.

The Government recently confirmed plans to significantly increase delivery and the Housing for All Strategy is the most ambitious housing plan in the history of the State, backed up by an unprecedented financial commitment in excess of €4bn per annum. Over the period 2021 to 2030, it is intended that approximately 18,000 Cost Rental homes will be delivered by Local Authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and the Land Development Agency. In building to this scale and with an average of 2,000 Cost Rental Units per year, the State will provide certain focused funding supports to help delivery partners to provide rental homes, targeting affordable rents at levels in the order of 25% below market rents.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

198. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of affordable purchase homes that will be completed by the end of 2021 via the serviced sites fund and the affordable housing funding scheme. [49820/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Following two broad-based Serviced Sites Fund (SSF) calls for proposals to local authorities, funding of almost €200 million was 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.

Since then and arising from the Programme for Government commitment to extend the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF), a review of SSF progress and projects to date was undertaken. Having regard to feedback from local authorities, a number of significant improvements to the funding scheme, now named the Affordable Housing Funding (AHF) scheme, have been agreed and communicated to local authorities by way of Circular in June 2021.

For those SSF schemes that are currently under construction, the Covid pandemic has had an impact on the projected timelines for delivery of housing, due to the closure of the construction sector earlier this year. Accordingly, the first projects to be delivered in 2021 will be the pilot Cost Rental project at Enniskerry Road and the first affordable purchase homes will be the first phase of the Boherboy Road scheme in Cork City. There will be 8 affordable purchase homes delivered in this first phase of this development.

The Housing for All Strategy delivers on the Programme for Government commitment to step up housing supply and put affordability at the heart of the housing system, with an ambitious target of 300,000 homes over the next decade for social, affordable and cost rental, private rental and private ownership housing.

Measures to deliver this housing are supported by over €4 billion in funding annually, representing the highest ever level of Government investment in building social and affordable housing. 54,000 affordable homes interventions will be delivered between now and 2030 to be facilitated by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, the Land Development Agency and through a strategic partnership between the State and retail banks.

Delivery of affordable housing, in accordance with the schemes set out in the Affordable Housing Act, 2021 and the funding being made available, will be underpinned by the preparation by local authorities of Housing Delivery Action Plans. Local authorities will be submitting their Plans to me, to include social and affordable housing, before the end of December 2021. This will allow each Local Authority to determine any affordability constraint in their area based on the Housing Need and Demand Assessment and plan provision accordingly.