Written answers

Thursday, 11 November 2021

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Housing Provision

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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293. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of houses, affordable or for those on local authority housing waiting lists, that have been allocated to appropriately qualified families in each of the past six weeks to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55437/21]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing for All Strategy delivers on the Programme for Government commitment to put affordability at the heart of the housing system.

A multi-faceted approach is being implemented to deliver 54,000 affordable homes interventions between now and 2030.  This will be facilitated by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, the Land Development Agency, as well as through a strategic partnership between the State and retail banks. The first local authority affordable purchase homes delivered under the Serviced Sites Fund will be delivered in December 2021.

Delivery of affordable housing in accordance with the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme established in Part 2 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021 will be underpinned by the preparation by each local authority's Housing Delivery Action Plan.  All homes made available under affordable housing schemes must adhere to eligibility criteria prescribed under the Act. 

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 the provision of affordable homes accordingly.

Part 4 of the Affordable Housing Act provides for the ‘First Home’ scheme to primarily support affordability-constrained first-time buyers to purchase privately developed new homes. This scheme will commence in 2022 and will be available at a national level.

Part 3 of the Affordable Housing Act provides for the establishment of a Cost Rental sector in Ireland, through the Ministerial designation of Cost Rental dwellings. Budget 2021 allocated €35 million to the Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) scheme which enabled the first Cost Rental homes to be delivered this year by the Clúid AHB at Taylor Hill, Balbriggan. The tenanting processes for further Cost Rental homes at Enniskerry Road in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Barnhall, Leixlip, County Kildare, are currently underway. In total, 390 Cost Rental units will be delivered through this funding, with the initial focus being in the Greater Dublin Area and Cork. A further €75 million was allocated in Budget 2022 to help meet the Housing for All target of 750 Cost Rental homes in 2022.

The Land Development Agency will deliver homes for both affordable purchase and Cost Rental.  The Housing for All strategy outlines how the Land Development Agency through Project Tosaigh will seek to unlock stalled developments and accelerate the delivery of affordable homes.

In addition the Help to Buy Scheme and the Local Authority Home loan scheme remain available nationally and make housing more affordable to purchasers.

In relation to the question posed regarding the number of social houses allocated in the past six weeks to date, information of this exact type is not held by my Department. Information relating to allocation of housing is available from individual local authorities.

The recently published Housing for All strategy is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade, including an average of 10,000 social homes per annum from 2022-2030. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4b per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the Land Development Agency and €5bn in funding through the Housing Finance Agency over a five year period. 

Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes and 3,500 social homes through long-term leasing in the period 2022-2026. Individual targets for the delivery of housing have been provided to each local authority and their Housing Delivery Action Plans will set out details on how and when local authorities will deliver their housing targets, including the delivery of affordable homes.

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