Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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99. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will supply the details of any proposed cost rental homes in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11917/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Housing for All targets, approximately 18,000 Cost Rental homes are to be delivered by Local Authorities, Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) and the Land Development Agency (LDA) by 2030. Although the COVID-19 pandemic and construction restrictions impacted on delivery timelines in 2021, a scale up in Cost Rental delivery will occur in the near-term.

Under Budget 2022, €70 million was allocated to the Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) scheme for Cost Rental delivery by AHBs in 2022. Over 900 homes have been approved for funding under the scheme to date, with a total of almost 4,000 CREL-funded homes being targeted for delivery over the 5 years to 2026.

40 CREL-funded Cost Rental homes were tenanted by the Clúid AHB at Barnhall Meadows in Leixlip, Co. Kildare in December 2021, where cost rents charged are approximately 40% below comparable market rents in the area. A further 16 Cost Rental homes will be tenanted in this development by the end of Q2 2022.

Under the Second Call for Proposals for CREL funding, issued to AHBs in October 2021, I have given approval in principle to the allocation of €53.6 million for the provision of 521 Cost Rental homes across 11 sites in 7 Local Authority areas, 486 of which are scheduled to deliver in 2022. Three of these 11 sites, comprising a total of 186 Cost Rental homes, are currently scheduled to be delivered in Kildare in 2022. Details of the funded projects, including locations, unit types and cost-covering rents will be released when the relevant AHBs have completed necessary financial and commercial arrangements.

These properties will make a real difference for people who are struggling to pay rents in the private market. Of the 65 homes delivered under CREL to date, the tenants are paying cost rents that are approximately 40% lower than comparable market rents in their areas.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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100. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will supply the details of any proposed affordable purchase homes in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11918/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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 home 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 local authorities' Housing Delivery Action Plans. Local authorities, including Kildare County Council, submitted their Plans to me in December 2021. This allowed each local authority to assess the level of demand with affordability constraint in their area based on the Housing Need and Demand Assessment and plan provision accordingly.

Funding to assist the local authority delivery of affordable housing was previously made available through the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF) and is presently available through the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF).

Kildare County Council submitted an application to my Department for SSF funding to assist in the delivery of 10 affordable purchase homes at Ardclough Road, Celbridge, Co Kildare. Funding was approved in principle in August 2019 and this project is currently at planning and design stages. Kildare County Council has advised my Department that it is envisaged that these 10 affordable homes will be delivered early in 2024.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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101. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the Land Development Agency development proposal at Devoy Barracks, Naas, County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11919/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Land Development Agency (LDA) has advised my Department that they are expecting to lodge a revised planning application in April 2022 for a development on the 10.08 acre site at Devoy Barracks in Naas. Subject to a successful grant of planning permission, it is envisaged that construction will commence in 2023, with an estimated development programme of approximately 3 years. It is estimated that this site has the potential to provide 221 units.

As this site is currently at the pre-development stage, the exact delivery potential will only be finalised as final plans are put in place and planning permission is secured. The LDA will have regard to Government policy, and all appropriate legislation, on the appropriate tenure mix for developments on public land, as well as the criteria for the operation of cost rental and affordable housing schemes.

As with all State bodies operating under the aegis of my Department, arrangements have been put in place by the LDA through which Oireachtas members can request information directly from the Agency in relation to operational matters - in this regard, the LDA may be contacted directly at oireachtas@lda.ie.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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102. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will report on any recent progress with Project Tosaigh; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11920/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Land Development Agency’s (LDA) Project Tosaigh is a market engagement initiative to unlock land with full planning permission that is not being developed by private sector owners due to financing and other constraints and use it to accelerate the supply of affordable housing. It allows the LDA to supplement the State lands it is already working on and accelerate the delivery of cost rental and affordable purchase homes by unlocking private land that is ready to be developed but where construction has stalled or not commenced.

The target is delivery of 5,000 new homes by 2026 for affordable cost rental or sale to eligible households under affordable purchase arrangements.

It is characterised by:

- Activation of planning consents that have not commenced or are proceeding more slowly than optimal;

- Achieving delivery both in the near term, as well as providing a 5-year programme of delivery;

- An open and transparent process, compliant with procurement rules; 

- A focus on delivery of affordable homes with some social homes to be secured if conditions allow, while securing value for money for the State.

Given the scale of ambition and having taken market soundings, the LDA is working on a dual track approach to running Project Tosaigh.

The first phase of Project Tosaigh involves an initial expressions of interest (EoI) process, launched on 12 November 2021, to engage builders and landowners in forward purchase agreements, with the intention of securing stock in certain developments in the shorter term. This process is targeting lot sizes of c. 150 homes upwards in the Greater Dublin Area (including Dublin City, South Dublin, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, Fingal, Meath, Kildare, Louth and Wicklow), Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford via forward purchasing agreements.

A very encouraging level of response was achieved and the LDA are working though the large numbers of proposals. Engagement meetings in respect of schemes with the potential to deliver some units (to practical completion) in 2022 have been prioritised. Broad indications of schemes with potential to progress and delivery timelines are expected to be available in the coming weeks.

In parallel, schemes submitted where delivery would be expected to begin in 2023 and thereafter are being reviewed and engagements with parties in respect of those schemes are now underway.  

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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103. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 109 of 25 January 2022, the status of the review by his Department and the Housing Delivery Coordination Office of the local authority Housing Delivery Action Plans; the number of plans that have been received by his Department to date by local authority; the number of plans reviewed to date; the number of plans approved to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11948/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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A key action of Housing for All is that local authorities will develop and submit Housing Delivery Action Plans to include details of social and affordable housing delivery. The Plans set out details of both social and affordable housing delivery as appropriate over the period 2022 - 2026, in line with targets set under Housing for All. 

All local authorities submitted their Housing Delivery Action Plans to me in December. My Department is now working closely with each local authority and the Housing Delivery Coordination Office to review the Plans, having regard to the targets and policy objectives set out in Housing for All. This will require further engagement with local authorities in the coming weeks. It is intended to publish the Plans in Quarter 2 of 2022 when this process of assessment and engagement has concluded. 

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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104. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of social housing and affordable housing projects under construction in Galway city and county by the location address, the number of units, project status and the expected completion date in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11949/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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For the purpose of tracking social housing delivery, a Social Housing Construction Status Report (CSR) is published each quarter by my Department. This provides details of the individual social housing build projects in the programme of each local authority, including Galway City and County local authority areas.

The report provides details of locations of the schemes, the number of homes being delivered and the current status of each scheme, including those currently on site and under construction. The most recent CSR publication covers the period up to the end of Quarter 3 of 2021, and is available at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/feea9-social-housing-construction-projects-status-report-q3-2021/. Information on Quarter 4 of 2021, will be available shortly and will be added to the published data. Further specific information on their build programmes, including expected completion dates, will be available from the local authorities.

Under Housing for All, the funding is in place to support both Galway local authorities, including approved housing bodies with whom they work, and I'm keen that they progress their social housing schemes as quickly as possible and that they receive the support of public representatives in the advancement of their programmes.

The Affordable Housing Act 2021 established a basis for four new affordable housing measures, to deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to put affordability at the heart of the housing system and prioritise the increased supply of affordable homes through (1) delivering affordable homes on local authority lands, (2) the introduction of a new form of tenure in Cost Rental, (3) a First Home shared equity scheme and (4) expanding Part V planning requirements to increase the 10% contribution requirement to 20% and to apply it to cost rental, as well as social and affordable housing. The First Home shared equity scheme will be available nationally on a demand-led basis. This scheme will primarily support first-time buyers purchasing new homes through the private market. It is anticipated this scheme will be open for applications in the second half of this year. The national 2022 target delivery for the First Home Scheme is 1,750.

At a national level, 2,550 Affordable Purchase homes and 1,580 Cost Rental homes are targeted for delivery for 2022. Annual targets will increase incrementally in subsequent years.

Delivery of affordable housing will be underpinned by Local Authorities' Housing Delivery Action Plans. Having reviewed the submitted Plans, my Department has held meetings with Local Authorities. The information shared in these meetings, and through a two-day Housing Summit held last week with all local authorities, will facilitate more informed target setting for each area. Updated Housing Delivery Action Plans will be published by the local authorities, including the both Galway authorities, later this year.

Galway City Council received approval in principle from my Department in August 2019 under the Serviced Sites Fund (now the Affordable Housing Fund) for approx. €4.4 million for a project at Merlin Park Lands. It is anticipated that this development will deliver 85 affordable purchase homes and Galway City Council have advised my Department that this project will be completed by 2024.

Additional affordable housing delivery in the two Galway local authorities will also be facilitated through the expanded 20% Part V requirement.