Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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29. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update on the delivery of affordable housing under Housing For All in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59369/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 54,000 affordable homes between now and 2030, to be facilitated by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), the Land Development Agency (LDA) and through a strategic partnership between the State and retail banks.

2022 represents the first year of a very ambitious programme of delivery of affordable housing. Significant funding has been secured and is being made available to support delivery of affordable housing for purchase or for cost rental by local authorities, including those in Dublin, AHB's and by the LDA. This includes homes for sale by local authorities and in partnership with the land Development Agency via the local authority affordable purchase scheme. These homes will be made available on local authority websites and the fisrt developments in Dun Emer, Lusk in Fingal and Kilcarbery in South Dublin have already been advertised and allocated to successful applicants. Details of affordable homes being brought forward by the LDA can be found on its website at .

Local authorities have published 5 year Housing Delivery Action Plans setting out, among other things, affordable housing delivery targets up to 2026. The 4 Dublin local authorities have a combined target of 5,285 affordable homes over this period, excluding affordable homes that will be delivered through AHBs and the higher Part V requirements introduced through the Affordable Housing Act 2021. Each delivery plan can be accessed on the respective local authority website.

Local authorities have begun collating information on the delivery of affordable homes in their area in the same manner as is currently undertaken for social housing. It is intended that information on delivery across all delivery streams will be coordinated by my Department and I expect that my Department will be in a position to commence reporting on affordable delivery figures in national quarterly delivery statistics soon.

The First Home shared equity scheme was launched in July this year, and now supports affordability-constrained households who wish to purchase a newly constructed home through the private market. This scheme will bridge the gap between the cost of the newly constructed home and the maximum mortgage the household, the maximum deposit (combined with Help-to-Buy support) that the household can obtain. Across the four Dublin local authority areas, this scheme supports purchases up to the value of €450,000 for newly constructed houses and up to €500,000 for newly constructed apartments. This scheme is administered by the First Home DAC. Full details can be found at www.firsthomescheme.ie/.

Other measures to support affordability constrained households include the Local Authority Home Loan and the Help-to-Buy incentive scheme. The Local Authority Home Loan was introduced in January this year as an enhanced replacement to the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan. The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan supported 935 home purchases across the 4 Dublin local authorities from 2018 up to 2021, and a further 246 applications have been approved across both schemes so far this year. The Help-to-Buy scheme has assisted over 8,200 households across the 4 Dublin local authorities so far and, as announced in Budget 2023, this scheme has been extended to end 2024.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Following the publication of Housing for All, I asked local authorities to prepare Housing Delivery Action Plans. In preparing these plans local authorities were asked to assess the level of housing demand with affordability constraint projected for their area based on the Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) tool and plan their provision accordingly. Local authorities with a strong and identified affordable housing need were asked to prepare Affordable Delivery Action Plans and were set five-year Affordable Delivery Targets.

An identified high level of affordable housing need arises where the HNDA indicates that, of the total projected need for housing in the county, over 5% of new households will not qualify for social housing but will also be constrained in accessing housing by their ability to afford to buy or rent. The level of affordably constrained need across the county of Longford is assessed at below 5%, although some localised affordability issues may arise in certain towns within the county.

It will be a matter for Longford County Council to consider whether a particular requirement for affordable housing arises and whether it will bring forward specific affordable schemes to meet this need. It is possible for local authorities, including Longford County Council, to assess affordable housing need at sub-county level to determine whether a need for Government funded affordable housing schemes is evident in specific towns/areas. Affordable Housing Fund subsidy towards the provision of local authority arranged affordable housing is only available to support affordable housing purchase in schemes located in large or key towns to ensure that provision is aligned with where need is concentrated. My Department, together with the Housing Agency, are available to offer assistance to any local authority that is considering developing an affordable housing scheme.

Where particular challenges arise for facilitating owner-occupation in towns, and 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 (the Ready to Build scheme) or providing support towards the refurbishment of vacant properties where the level of vacancy or dereliction is high (the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant). These Croí Cónaithe Towns schemes, which are delivered by local authorities, provide new choices to support affordable home ownership.

In addition, the First Home Scheme, launched in July this year, which supports first-time buyers in purchasing new houses and apartments in the private market through the use of an equity share model, similar to that employed in the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme. The Scheme aims to support in the region of 8,000 households in acquiring new homes in the private market in the years 2022 to 2026 with an overall budget of €400 million. The scheme is available nationwide and more information can be found at .