Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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. 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 provision by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), local authorities, the Land Development Agency (LDA), and now also private providers under the new Secure Tenancy Affordable Rental (STAR) investment scheme.

Cost Rental schemes will be focused initially in densely populated urban areas where rental affordability pressures are particularly acute and where State resources can have the biggest impact. It is important that the State targets its affordability measures towards the parts of the country that are experiencing the most extreme affordability challenges.

Each local authority has prepared its own 5-year Housing Delivery Action Plan setting out their planned social and affordable housing delivery. A copy of Mayo County Council’s Housing Delivery Action Plan is available at the following link:www.mayo.ie/en-ie/your-council/services/housing-services/social-housing/housing-delivery-action-plan

Data for affordable housing delivery is published on a quarterly basis, similar to social housing delivery. This data is published up to Quarter 3 2023, including cost rental delivery, and is available on my Department's website: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/ . The Q4 2023 data is currently being collated and verified and will be published in due course.

While no Cost Rental schemes have been delivered to date in Mayo, my Department along with the Housing Agency and the Housing Delivery Coordination Office of the Local Government Management Agency will continue to advise and support Mayo County Council in respect of its planned response to affordable housing needs in its area.