Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing for All strategy commits to delivering a total of 18,000 Cost Rental homes over the period to 2030 and significant funding is made available to support delivery of Cost Rental by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), Local Authorities and by the Land Development Agency (LDA).

Delivery will increase incrementally, to an average of 2,000 Cost Rental homes per year. 10,000 Cost Rental homes will be delivered from 2021 to 2026. AHBs will be supported by Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) funding and Local Authorities will be able to avail of funding for Cost Rental delivery through the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF). The LDA will also deliver Cost Rental on its own portfolio of sites, or through acquisitions under Project Tosaigh.

In terms of Dublin City Council’s delivery of affordable housing, the local authority has published its 5 year Housing Delivery Action Plan to 2026 which can be found on the Council website.

To date, AHBs have utilised Departmental CREL funding to deliver the majority of the Cost Rental homes tenanted since the legislation was passed last year. In responding to the rising interest rate environment and construction cost inflation, which directly impact on the viability of schemes, the Government has recently improved the terms and conditions for CREL funding. The CREL funding ceilings have increased, with the 30% flat rate being replaced and applications being assessed on a sliding scale basis, up to a ceiling of 45% of the total capital costs of delivering the homes. Budget 2023 also saw the funding allocation for CREL increase from €70m in 2022 to €75m for next year.

Furthermore, local authorities have been encouraged to deliver Cost Rental homes directly, by taking advantage of recent increase to the level of grant funding available under the AHF to fund the delivery of Cost Rental homes in key urban areas to €150,000 per unit. Funding for the AHF also rose in Budget 2023 from €60m in 2022 to €90m for next year. This will help facilitate the delivery of Cost Rental homes on State lands by local authorities, and it will be particularly important in areas with high land costs such as Dublin City Council, where the significant work done to progress the delivery of Cost Rental homes directly at the Emmet Road site in Dublin 8 can provide a model to deliver further homes elsewhere in the city. The use of State lands by the LDA, such as at Dundrum, will also help deliver a critical mass of Cost Rental homes in central locations.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Under pathway 1 of Housing For All, “Pathways to Home Ownership and Increasing Affordability”, I have introduced the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme to assist first-time buyers purchasing Local Authority-delivered new homes by bridging the gap between the market value of the home and the combined value of the buyer's mortgage and deposit. Affordable Purchase homes will be advertised on the relevant Local Authority’s website in advance of their sale, as well as eligibility requirements such as household income limits. This delivery of affordable housing is supported by the Affordable Housing Fund, with €60 million being made available in 2022, increasing to €90 million in 2023.

The First Home shared equity scheme, launched on 7 July this year, acts in a similar way to the Local Authority-led scheme, though it applies to homes purchased through the private market through the use of an equity share model. Subject to eligibility criteria, it can provide funds up to 30% of the value of a newly constructed home (or 20% if you use the Help to Buy Scheme). Overall, this Scheme is intended to support up to 8,000 affordable purchases in the period out to 2026. The State has committed an overall funding envelope of €200m over the lifetime of the scheme to be matched by the participating lenders. Full details of the Scheme, including eligibility criteria, are available on the website:

www.firsthomescheme.ie.

Other measures, such as the Help to Buy Scheme and the Local Authority Home loan are also nationally available to eligible first-time purchasers to make home ownership more affordable.

The Help-to-Buy incentive supports First-time Buyers in meeting the deposit requirements for newly-built houses or apartments, as well as self-build homes. Subject to the level of income tax and DIRT paid over the previous 4 years, the Help-to-Buy scheme provides a maximum benefit to First-Time Buyers of €30,000 or 10% of the cost of the newly constructed home. As of the end of September 2022, over 35,000 first-time buyers have been supported by the incentive. As part of Budget 2023, the Minister for Finance confirmed the continuation of the scheme until the end of 2024. More details are available on the following link: (www.revenue.ie/en/property/help-to-buy-incentive/index.aspx).

The new Local Authority Home Loan commenced on 4 January 2022 and is a Government backed mortgage scheme for those on modest or low incomes who cannot get sufficient funding from commercial banks to purchase or build a home. The loan can be used by first-time buyers for both for new and second-hand properties, or for self-builds. €250 million will be available in 2023 for lending under the expanded scheme. More details on the Local Authority Home Loan scheme are available on the following link:

localauthorityhomeloan.ie.

In relation to Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), Pathway 5 of the Housing for All strategy identifies MMC as a key measure to address the different housing needs in Ireland. The development of MMC, which will improve productivity and increase efficiency in construction, and the coordination of activities to promote the its development, is being led by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE). DETE has recently established a MMC Leadership and Integration Group.

The Group’s leadership aim to ensure a coordinated approach, and that those emerging innovations and new technologies being developed and deployed by the industry in Ireland and abroad, and promoted by the public sector, can be showcased and demonstrated in a coordinated and timely manner, particularly (but not exclusively) by the Demonstration Park for MMC, and could also inform the design of construction training modules.

Pathway 4 of Housing for All sets out a blueprint to address vacancy and make efficient use of our existing housing stock. Many areas of cities, towns and villages of all sizes face the blight of vacant properties, which, if brought back into use, could add real vibrancy and provide new accommodation in those areas. The Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund is a key initiative which underpins these policy objectives set out in Pathway Four of Housing for All.

Schemes under the Fund, which are delivered by local authorities, provide new choices for people to live in towns and villages in Ireland, through the provision of a grant to support the refurbishment of vacant properties and by providing serviced sites in towns and villages to people in order to build their own homes.

In July, I launched the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant as part of the Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund. The grant benefits those who wish to turn a formerly vacant house or building into their principal private residence. The grant was initially launched in respect of vacant properties in towns and villages but I am pleased to say that as of the 15 November, the expanded grant also includes eligible vacant properties in both cities and rural areas (in addition to those in towns and villages, which have been eligible since July). Further details are available on the following link: .

A grant of up to a maximum of €30,000 is available for the refurbishment of vacant properties for occupation as a principal private residence, including the conversion of a property which has not previously been used as residential. Where the refurbishment costs are expected to exceed the standard grant of up to €30,000, a maximum top-up grant amount of up to €20,000 is available where the property is confirmed to be derelict, bringing the total grant available for a derelict property up to a maximum of €50,000.

In September, I launched the Ready to Build Scheme, also funded by the Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund. Under the Ready to Build Scheme, local authorities will make serviced sites in towns and villages available to potential individual purchasers to build their homes. These sites will be available at a discount on the market value of the site for the building of a property for occupation as the principal private residence of the purchaser.