Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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245. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update under Housing for All for supporting an unprecedented 4,000 affordable purchase homes on average every year. [7106/23]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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246. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update under Housing for All for a new local authority-led affordable purchase scheme, targeting average prices of €250,000. [7107/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 245 and 246 together.

Housing for All sets out the range of actions necessary to increase the supply of housing to the required 33,000 homes, on average, per year over the next decade. 54,000 affordable home interventions will be delivered 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.

In implementing the key objectives under Housing for All, each local authority has prepared and published a Housing Delivery Action Plan in respect of local authority supported or overseen delivery from 2022 to 2026. I have set individual five-year Housing delivery targets for local authorities. 18 local authorities with a strong and identified affordable housing need were also set affordable housing delivery targets and asked to include their planned affordable housing delivery in their Housing Delivery Action Plans. These plans were published on the local authorities’ respective websites in July 2022.

2022 represented the commencement of a very ambitious programme of delivery of affordable housing. A pipeline of affordable housing delivery is being developed by local authorities, by AHBs using the Cost Rental Equity Loan and by the LDA. Local authorities have been begun collating information on delivery of affordable homes in their area in the same manner as is currently done for social housing. It is intended that information on delivery across all delivery streams will be gathered by my Department and I expect that my Department will be in a position to begin reporting on affordable delivery in national quarterly delivery statistics in Q1 2023.

In addition, the First Home Scheme, which was launched in July 2022, supports first-time buyers in purchasing new houses and apartments in the private market through the use of an equity share model. 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. Full information on the scheme is available on the First Home Scheme dedicated website, www.firsthomescheme.ie.