Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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257. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will ensure that approved housing bodies, local authorities and the Land Development Agency make one-bedroom units available under the cost-rental scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60398/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Government’s Housing for All plan it is intended to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. Over 300,000 new homes will be built by the end of 2030, including a projected 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes.

Part 3 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021 provides for the establishment of a Cost Rental sector in Ireland, through the designation by the Minister of Cost Rental dwellings. This new form of rental tenure will see rents linked to the cost of provision of homes, rather than being subject to the pressures of the open market. Rents will therefore only increase in line with consumer inflation, remaining stable in real terms, while continuing to cover management and maintenance costs.

My Department is utilising the expertise of Local Authorities, the Land Development Agency (LDA) and the Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), to deliver initial Cost Rental projects. In building to this scale and with a targetted 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 that target affordable rents, at levels in the order of 25% below market rents.

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 CREL funding, with the initial focus being in the Greater Dublin Area and Cork. I can confirm that homes delivered under Phase 1 CREL funding will range in sizes from those suitable to smaller households to larger family homes and will include 86 one-bedroom residences. A further €75 million will be allocated in 2022 to help meet the Housing for All target of a further 750 Cost Rental homes, including one bedroomed units.

My Department has directed Cost Rental landlords to seek the efficient use of resources by allocating appropriately sized homes according to household needs. This direction is to ensure that landlords place tenants into homes of an appropriate size, in order to maximise the efficient use of the limited number of properties that have been available during the initial rollout of Cost Rental. Over the period of the Housing for All plan from 2021 to 2030, it is intended that 18,000 Cost Rental homes will be delivered in our urban centres by Local Authorities, AHBs and the LDA. These Cost Rental homes will accommodate a range of different household types and sizes, including individuals living alone or in smaller households, as further developments are completed.