Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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252. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the Croí Conaithe scheme will be open to applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12539/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Government’s “Housing for All, a new Housing Plan for Ireland”, launched in September 

2022, sets out four pathways to a sustainable housing system. A key objective is that everyone in the State should have access to a home to purchase or rent at an affordable price, built to a high standard and in the right place, offering a high quality of life. 

Aligned with our overall National Planning Framework (NPF) objective for compact growth, vibrant, liveable cities and towns must offer options for both owner occupiers and renters, at all income levels.

The new Croí Cónaithe fund as outlined in Housing for All, is intended to ensure that aligned with the objectives of the NPF, additional choices are made available to home buyers in our urban cores, and town centres. It will do this by working to extend home ownership options, where the choice is currently limited:

- In urban areas, for apartment living in developments over a certain height/density threshold;

- In towns, where options for building new private dwellings have been constrained by the lack of serviced sites.

In higher density locations, the number of apartments being built for sale poses a challenge. We are also aware of a high level of unactivated permissions, particularly for apartments, in our urban areas. A Croí Cónaithe (Cities) fund is being established, which through a competitive bid process, will seek to deliver developments at a viable cost for sale to owner occupiers, targeted principally at activating the planning permissions already in place for such homes over the coming five years. The fund will be managed by the Housing Agency on behalf of my Department. My Department is working with the Housing Agency in finalising the operational basis for the new fund and expect to engage prospective proposers in a call for proposals in the near future.

Different challenges arise for facilitating owner-occupation in towns, where viable sites available for building of new homes are in short supply. There is significant potential for local authorities to support homeownership in these areas by making available serviced sites at a reduced cost or providing support towards the refurbishment of vacant properties where the level of vacancy or dereliction is high. A pathfinder programme will be initiated as part of a Croí Cónaithe (Towns) fund, to facilitate the making available of some 2,000 sites for homes by 2025.

The approach to the Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund is currently under consideration and it is expected that a call for proposals will issue to local authorities later this quarter.