Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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204. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider the inclusion of self-build homes under the first home scheme and the reintroduction of the local authority rural cottage scheme minus the value of the site to alleviate long waiting lists for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22127/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The First Home Scheme will support eligible applicants to purchase new homes in the private market through an equity share model, similar to that used in the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme. The Scheme will be restricted to new homes within regional price ceilings, in order for resources to be generally targeted at supporting purchases in the lower region (sub-median) of the first-time buyer market for new homes in each area. The Scheme is aimed at encouraging new supply to address the realisable demand that currently exists in this section of the first-time buyer market, through supporting the viability of such projects.

Although self-build homes will not be eligible under the First Home Scheme at launch, scheduled for the end of Q2 2022, it is intended that all aspects of the Scheme will be reviewed after the first year of operation. Both the Help to Buy incentive and the Local Authority Home Loan are already available and can be availed of by eligible applicants for the purpose of constructing a self-build home.

Information on the Help to Buy scheme can be found at the following link: www.revenue.ie/en/property/help-to-buy-incentive/index.aspx 

Information on the Local Authority Home Loan can be found at the following link: localauthorityhomeloan.ie/

In relation to social housing, my Department is supporting Local Authorities in the delivery of a range of social housing schemes from small to larger scale developments. This includes single rural dwellings where the Authorities concerned have prioritised such projects as part of their overall work to meet their social housing targets and respond to local housing need. It is open to any person who is qualified for social housing support to apply to the relevant Local Authority in connection with the provision of a home or site. However, the actual operation of such an approach to social housing provision continues to be a matter for the Local Authority concerned.

In terms of new housing provision in rural towns, the Government's Housing For All strategy includes the ‘Croí Cónaithe’ (Towns) Fund. This will be delivered by Local Authorities for the provision of serviced sites for housing, in order to attract people to build their own homes and to support the refurbishment of vacant properties, enabling people to live in small towns in a sustainable way. This reflects the priorities of the National Planning Framework by activating the potential for the renewal and development of small towns and villages by focusing on compact urban growth. The Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund is currently under development, including the scope and appropriate timeframes, and it is expected that a call for proposals will issue to Local Authorities shortly.