Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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249. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update under Housing for All for an owner-occupier guarantee in housing developments to secure homes exclusively for first-time buyers and other owner-occupiers. [7110/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Pathway 1 of Housing for All: Supporting Homeownership and Increasing Affordability, the Government committed to introducing a form of ‘owner-occupier guarantee’, which would enable Local Authorities to specify the proportion of houses and duplexes in a development for owner-occupiers.

In support of this commitment the Government introduced a series of measures in May 2021 designed to prohibit the bulk buying of houses and duplexes. This included the Section 28 Guidelines for Planning Authorities “Regulation of Commercial Institutional Investment in Housing” which aimed to prevent multiple units being sold to a single buyer.

The Section 28 Guidelines provide an ‘owner-occupier’ guarantee by ensuring that new ‘own-door’ houses and duplex units in housing developments can no longer be bulk-purchased by institutional investors in a manner that causes the displacement of individual purchasers or social and affordable housing, including cost-rental. The Guidelines included requirements that a new form of condition be inserted in applicable new planning permissions, to the effect that:

(1) all houses would have to be made available for sale and for first occupation by separate, individual households for a period of years after completion of the home. (In the case of mixed developments, the provision only applies to the houses and duplex units and not apartments.);(2) exempts housing to be provided for social or affordable purposes from this requirement; and(3) if, after a period of two years, the local authority is satisfied that despite reasonable efforts, a market has not emerged, the condition will lapse.

On 9 June 2022, Minister O’Brien published a 12 month progress update on the Section 28 planning measures introduced in May 2021 to increase home ownership and restrict the practice of bulk purchasing by institutional investors. It demonstrated that almost 16,000 residential units had been ring-fenced for individual buyers and restricted from bulk buying or multiple sales to a single purchaser. As of December 2022, this estimate had increased further to over 23,000 residential units.

In addition, the Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Act 2021 introduced the requirement for the Housing Strategy of a local authority to take into account the existing need and the likely future need for housing, in particular houses and duplexes, for purchase by intending owner occupiers. The proportion of owner-occupiers will be calculated by each local authority using the Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) tool which projects the overall housing need and provides a breakdown by tenure type. This provision gives further legislative effect to aforementioned Guidelines and means that local authorities will be required to ensure home ownership as a tenure type is provided for and estimated in their respective Housing Strategies.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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250. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update under Housing for All for 20% of all developments to be set aside for affordable and social housing. [7111/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Housing for All is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 new homes per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the Land Development Agency and €5bn funding through the Housing Finance Agency.

Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 was amended by the Affordable Housing Act 2021 with the provisions coming into operation on 3 September 2021. The effect of the provisions is to increase the Part V contribution to 20% in housing developments of 5 or more houses and to enable the use of Part V for the provision of cost rental as well as social and affordable purchase housing. At least half the Part V contribution must be for social housing provision.

Planning permissions granted before 1 August 2021 are not affected and the contribution remains at 10% for social housing purposes where planning permission is granted before August 2026 in respect of a site purchased between September 2015 and July 2021. My Department is in the process of preparing updated Part V guidelines for local authorities under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. These guidelines, which are expected to be finalised shortly, will address the amended Part V requirements.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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251. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update under Housing for All for an average of 2,000 new cost rental homes every year with rents targeted at least 25% below market level. [7112/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Cost Rental was introduced through the Affordable Housing Act 2021. Under Housing for All, an average of 2,000 new Cost Rental homes are targeted annually to 2030. Cost rental is targeted to deliver at least 25% below market level and at households with incomes above the social housing limits, but who cannot afford to purchase or rent their own home on the open market. Cost Rental provides tenants with secure tenancies in sustainable, long-term homes. Under the Cost Rental model, rents for homes are set to cover only the cost of financing, building, managing and maintaining the homes. Importantly, one of the conditions of this scheme is that households must have net income (i.e. the level of income after tax) of less than €53,000. Under the Housing for All targets, the delivery of Cost Rental homes will be scaled up and implemented in areas with a high affordability constraint as soon as practicable.

The first Cost Rental homes were delivered in 2021, and 2022 saw significant delivery of further Cost Rental homes by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) via the Cost Rental Equity Loan and the first Cost Rental homes delivered via the Land Development Agency (LDA). A grant is also available to local authorities via the Affordable Housing Fund which provides up to €150,000 per cost rental home.

Delivery in 2023 will continue with a pipeline of housing delivery in place and being developed by local authorities, AHBs, and the LDA. Local authorities have begun systematically collating information on delivery of affordable homes in their area, including validated delivery from AHBs and the LDA, in the same manner as is currently done for social housing for submission to my Department. 2022 year end returns are currently being prepared by local authorities. Informed by returns of this data which is scheduled over the coming weeks, I expect that my Department will be in a position to report the confirmed 2022 social and affordable housing delivery by the end of Q1 2023, which will include Cost Rental delivery.