Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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861.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has carried out an estimate of the number of homes in the pipeline for affordable purchase in Dublin; if so, how it compares to the pipeline for cost rental; and if he will consider setting a quota on new Land Development Agency projects that they contain a minimum of 30% for affordable purchase, or of entering into agreements in respect of private developments, which would give developers some fallback of selling to the State if apartments assigned for sale to owner-occupiers were not sold within a certain period.[35414/24]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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893.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the maximum contribution by the State towards the cost of affordable purchase, under the council-developed sites, under sites developed by approved housing bodies, under the croí cónaithe cities fund, under protect Tosaigh partnerships operated by the Land Development Agency (LDA) and under projects fully financed and managed by the LDA; and the projected pipeline and three-year output under each.[35874/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 861 and 893 together.

The Government has targeted delivery of 54,000 affordable homes between now and 2030, to be facilitated by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, the Land Development Agency and via the First Home scheme, a strategic partnership between the State and retail banks.

My Department is supporting this affordable housing delivery by local authorities and these key partners, with funding and other practical measures, in the four Dublin local authorities and more widely.

Local authorities have published 5 year Housing Delivery Action Plans setting out affordable housing delivery targets up to 2026. The Dublin local authorities have targeted delivery of c. 5,000 affordable homes over this period, not including additional affordable homes that will be delivered by the Land Development Agency (LDA), Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), via the higher Part V requirements introduced in the Affordable Housing Act 2021 and via the First Home Scheme. Individual Councils Delivery Action Plans can be accessed from their respective websites.

The Affordable Housing Fund is available to local authorities as a direct subvention towards the development costs of providing affordable houses. In the case of affordable purchase homes in the Dublin region, subsidy of €50,000 - €100,000 per affordable housing unit is available depending on the density of housing units per hectare on the development, with subsidy of up to €150,000 available to support the delivery of higher density cost rental homes in the cities.

The LDA represents a crucial lever in the Government’s delivery of affordable and social homes, deploying two primary delivery mechanisms, the first being direct delivery on lands sourced from the State or on lands purchased by the LDA and the second through the Project Tosaigh initiative, whereby the LDA partners with homebuilders to unlock stalled private, planning-consented developments in the shorter-term. Over 2,500 social, affordable purchase and cost rental homes have been delivered, contracted or are in the approved pipeline since Project Tosaigh activity began in 2022.

The LDA and the relevant local authority consider the context of each individual scheme that becomes available in this way with a view to ensuring the optimum density and tenure mix is achieved that will support the development and growth of viable new communities in each case.

In the case of Project Tosaigh, which by its nature, is focused on high density developments of scale, the majority of planning permissions are for apartments. Such developments are thus often best suited to cost rental rather than affordable purchase delivery outcomes.

The Croí Cónaithe (Cities) Scheme supports the increased provision of apartments for sale to owner occupiers in the heart of our cities. It also supports the government’s aim of compact growth and tackling climate change by providing housing in our urban cores. Government has allocated some €450m to deliver up to 5,000 apartments for sale to owner occupiers by activating uncommenced planning applications in our cities. The maximum subsidy available per apartment is €120,000 in Dublin with a 20% increase available in the cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

Statistical data on affordable housing delivery by tenure and by local authority area during 2022, 2023 and for the first quarter of 2024 is published on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/#affordable-housing-delivery

To date, funding approvals have been given for the delivery of more than 4,000 affordable homes (affordable purchase and cost rental) across 21 local authorities with the support of over €380m in grant assistance from the Affordable Housing Fund. This affordable housing delivery pipeline continues to grow as new schemes are identified, planned and approved and will be enhanced further as the higher Part V requirements introduced in the Affordable Housing Act 2021 begin to bear fruit.

In addition, the First Home Scheme, 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, similar to that employed in the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme. 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 and more information can be found at www.firsthomescheme.ie/.