A range of State and local authority lands were assigned to the Affordable Housing Initiative provided for under the Sustaining Progress social partnership agreement. These lands, together with 2,500 affordable homes to be delivered under Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2006, provide the basis for reaching the 10,000 affordable home target included in the agreement.
While the agreement did not specify the target period within which the 10,000 homes were to be delivered, my Department has been working actively with the State agencies and local authorities concerned with a view to achieving the earliest possible delivery of completed homes. To that end, in excess of 70 projects on State and local authority lands are being progressed, with innovative approaches, such as land exchanges, being utilised, where appropriate, to accelerate delivery.
The data available to my Department, including provisional data for 2006, indicate that 3,125 homes had been completed under the Initiative up to the end of 2006, with a further 557 units under construction at that stage. Significant work has also been progressing on the planning and procurement aspects associated with a range of other projects that have yet to get to construction, providing a strong platform for additional future delivery.