Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

198. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of costal rental houses in progress in south County Kildare; the number that are at planning stage; the number at construction stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22080/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Under the Government's Housing for All strategy, 10,000 Cost Rental homes will be delivered from 2021 to 2026 by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), Local Authorities and the Land Development Agency (LDA). 

A Housing Delivery Action Plan prepared by each Local Authority will underpin Local Authority delivery of affordable purchase and cost rental homes to 2026. This includes any Local Authority delivery of Cost Rental homes utilising the support of the Affordable Housing Fund. Each Local Authority submitted the first iteration of their plans in December 2021 and my officials have now met with each authority. The final Delivery Action Plans are anticipated to be published in Q2 of this year. 

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. 

The most recent Cost Rental vacancies in Kildare have just been advertised by Clúid AHB and are located at The Paddocks in Newbridge. The development includes 46 one, two and three bedroom apartments, with cost-covering rents for these apartments at €1,000 per month for the 1 beds, €1,240 for the 2 beds and €1,350 for the 3 beds, which represent significant discounts of approximately 25-30% on market rents in the area. These Cost Rental homes will be tenanted 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 including South Kildare. Three of these 11 sites, comprising a total of 186 Cost Rental homes, are currently scheduled to be delivered in Kildare in 2022. The necessary financial and commercial arrangements in relation to the other projects approved under the second call for proposals under CREL are being completed by the AHBs concerned. When these arrangements are concluded, details of the other projects, including specific locations, housing typologies and cost-covering rents, will be made public. 

In addition, the LDA has submitted a revised planning permission for 219 social and affordable units at Devoy Barracks in Naas, Co. Kildare. The LDA will comply with Part V regulations and the remaining homes will be a mix of Cost Rental and affordable purchase.

Cost Rental developments have already provided people within the middle-income cohort with secure and more affordable homes and the developing pipeline will continue to do so into the future as the number of cost rental developments increases. 

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

199. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he plans to change the HAP limits for counties Offaly, Laois and Carlow to bring them in line with counties Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22081/22]

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

200. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is considering a change to the HAP limits for a single person considering the difficulty that single persons have in obtaining a home within the current guidelines. [22082/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 199 and 200 together.

The Programme for Government commits to ensuring that Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) levels are adequate to support vulnerable households, while we increase the supply of social housing. Maximum rent limits for HAP were set for each housing authority area in 2016, in conjunction with the Department of Social Protection (DSP). In reviewing the rent limits, my Department worked closely with DSP and monitored data gathered from the Residential Tenancies Board and the HAP Shared Services Centre.

Local authorities also have the flexibility to agree to a HAP payment of up to 20% above the maximum rent limit, because of local rental market conditions and up to 50% in the Dublin region for those households either in, or at immediate risk of, homelessness.

Under Housing for All, my Department was tasked with undertaking an analytical exercise to examine whether an increase in the level of the 20% discretion available to Local Authorities under HAP is required, in order to maintain adequate levels of HAP support.

The Housing Agency undertook to carry out this analytical exercise on behalf of my Department. The review was submitted on 20 December 2021. It is undergoing analysis by my Department and I expect to receive recommendations following that analysis.