Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The baseline social housing net income eligibility thresholds were increased for all local authorities from 1 January 2023, by €5,000 to €40,000, €35,000 and €30,000 for bands 1, 2 and 3 respectively. My Department also continues to work on developing options for a potential revised or new social housing income eligibility model. It is expected proposals will be submitted for my consideration when the analysis is completed.

Critical to supporting households to exit homelessness is increasing the supply of social and affordable housing and my Department is prioritising measures which focus on accelerating housing supply through a combination of new build, targeted acquisitions and leasing.

Record state investment of €4.5bn has been made available this year to support the largest State home building programme ever, including 9,100 new build social homes and 5,500 affordable homes. The Government has also approved an increase in the number of social housing acquisitions, with local authorities sanctioned to acquire at least 1,500 social homes, mainly focused on acquiring Tenant-in-Situ properties.

Affordability and the chance to own a home is at the heart of the Government’s housing policy. The Housing for All strategy aims to increase new housing supply, support home ownership, and increase affordability. It commits to the delivery of 54,000 affordable homes by 2030. The plan can be accessed at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/ef5ec-housing-for-all-a-new-housing-plan-for-ireland/#view-the-plan, with information on delivery available through the Housing for All Quarterly Progress Reports, which can be accessed via the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/9d2ee-housing-for-all-quarterly-progress-reports/.

Information on affordability measures that have been put in place, is published on www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/0d279-doors-open/, which also contains further links to each specific scheme. Information is also available at the following link: affordablehomes.ie/.