Written answers

Thursday, 26 January 2023

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Housing Provision

Photo of Paul McAuliffePaul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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164. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to provide affordable purchase and cost rental housing in Dublin 9 and Dublin 11; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3430/23]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh 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 represented the first year of a very ambitious programme of affordable housing delivery. 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 City.

Funding under the various streams is made available on a programme basis in support of approved affordable housing schemes, rather than by allocations to counties. Housing for All has the largest ever housing budget in the history of the State to transform our housing system, with in excess of €20 billion in funding through the Exchequer, the LDA and the Housing Finance Agency over the five years.

Local authorities have published 5 year Housing Delivery Action Plans setting out affordable housing delivery targets up to 2026. Dublin City Council has a target of 2,114 affordable homes over this period, not including additional affordable homes that will be delivered through AHBs and the higher Part V requirements introduced through the Affordable Housing Act 2021. Dublin City Council's delivery plan can be accessed on its 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 this quarter.

Dublin City Council made an Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) application to my Department in October 2022, to assist in the delivery of 12 affordable purchase homes in Poppintree, Ballymun. I approved this funding application last month and Dublin City Council has advised that these homes will be completed by the end of 2024.

Dublin City Council submitted the final funding application documents to my Department for Oscar Traynor Road last month. The application is currently under assessment and a decision on funding approval will be issued to Dublin City Council shortly. Dublin City Council has advised that the delivery of these units would commence in early 2025.

Dublin City Council have also indicated their intention to resubmit previously approved Serviced Sites Fund (SSF) applications in both Balbutcher and Sillogue in Ballymun, Dublin 11 for AHF funding to my Department shortly.

Finally, the First Home Shared Equity scheme was launched in July 2022, 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. In the Dublin City area, this scheme supports purchases up to the value of €450,000 for newly constructed houses and up to €500,000 for newly constructed apartments. 194 applications were approved for Dublin in 2022. This scheme is administered by the First Home DAC. Full details can be found at www.firsthomescheme.ie/

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