Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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274. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when it is anticipated that the affordable housing local authority home loan and first home schemes will come into effect; the income threshold for those living in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55538/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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As part of Housing for All, I announced a reformed successor to the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme, the 'Local Authority Home Loan'. The Local Authority Home Loan will include an increase in the income ceiling for single applicants.

For counties where the scheme’s house price limit is €320,000 (Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow), the income ceiling for a single applicant will be €65,000. This will be an increase of €15,000 on the €50,000 income ceiling under the current Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan scheme. In the rest of the country where the scheme’s house price limit is €250,000, the income ceiling for a single applicant will remain €50,000. The income ceiling for joint applicants is €75,000. The maximum loan amount will remain €288,000.

I look forward to announcing further details in respect of the Local Authority Home Loan in the coming months.

Regulations covering the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme are currently being finalised and, once complete, will include information in relation to income and eligibility.

In respect of the local authority led affordable purchase scheme, Cork County Council has previously received approval in principal for six funding applications for the delivery of affordable housing projects under the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF). In line with the publication of the Government’s Housing for All plan, 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. These changes include expanding the scope of costs covered to sub vent the all-in development cost of delivering the housing; accepting applications as they are developed on a rolling basis as opposed to time constrained funding calls; and, allowing funding support to now exceed the current maximum of €50,000 per affordable dwelling on a stepped scale to €100,000, based on location and density.

Cork City Council is currently on site at Boherboy Road where, under the SSF, they will deliver 116 affordable homes with the first phase being delivered by year end. They will also submit an AHF application for 21 affordable units, previously approved under SSF, for Churchfield, to be delivered in 2023.

The ‘First Home’ affordable purchase shared equity scheme is designed to enable first-time buyers to purchase a newly-built home in private developments. It will do so by bridging the gap, by means of an equity stake, between the purchaser’s available deposit and mortgage, and the price of the new home they wish to buy. Work on the design of the scheme is ongoing, in advance of the scheme’s introduction next year.

The affordable purchase schemes will not have a single or universally applicable income limit. Eligibility assessments will consider income on a household specific basis. Broadly, where a household is unable to purchase the new home in question using their deposit and maximum mortgage entitlement, and where the available equity support can bridge the gap between their available finance and the cost of the home, they will be eligible to apply. The price of new homes being made available under the First Home scheme will be limited by price ceilings linked to the median price of new build first time buyer homes.