Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Cost rental is a new form of tenure which was introduced under the Affordable Housing Act 2021, where rents are set only to cover the cost of financing, building, managing and maintaining the homes. Under various schemes, the State may provide a subvention to reduce the initial capital cost and make the starting cost rent more affordable. In return, the homes are designated as cost rental homes for a minimum of at least 40 years under the Act.

The very first Cost Rental homes in Ireland were delivered in late 2021 and since then almost 800 new Cost Rental homes have been delivered by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and the Land Development Agency.

My Department provides financial support for cost rental homes through the Cost Rental Equity Loan for Approved Housing Bodies, the Affordable Housing Fund for Local Authorities and the Secure Tenancy Affordable Rental Investment Scheme for all other potential providers.

Indeed, just in the last few weeks Minister O'Brien has approved over €420m in funding for AHBs to support over 1,650 new cost rental homes and I am happy to see a very healthy pipeline developing across all of our delivery partners.

The Housing for All strategy commits to delivering a total of 18,000 Cost Rental homes over the period to 2030, and significant funding is being made available to support delivery of this important new tenure.