As the Deputy will be aware, a very challenging housing crisis exists in Ireland, the root cause of which is an undersupply of housing across all tenures. At an overall level, while 25,000 new homes a year are needed to meet demand, output fell to as low as 8,300 in recent years. At its heart, the Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness is about increasing and accelerating housing delivery, across all tenures, to help individuals and families find homes. The active pursuit of housing provision on State lands, including local authority lands, is an important part of delivering on this overall ambition.
This involves the State extracting the maximum value for its lands in the shortest possible timeframe. In practical terms this should include accelerating social housing delivery, securing more homes at lower price points and providing homes to rent at affordable prices. Local authorities are pivotal in managing the overall planning and development of such mixed tenure housing developments, and will likely involve tailored solutions for each individual case.
Opportunities for private and social housing development on publicly-owned land banks can be advanced under a variety of arrangements. The development of these proposals, including the delivery and financing models used, will be influenced by experience gained from such models as Dublin City Council’s Housing Land Initiative proposals for mixed-tenure developments.
In addition, Rebuilding Ireland contains a number of integrated actions to underpin land supply management, including the development of a national Land Supply Management Strategy, within the context of the new National Planning Framework. This will involve identifying and mapping sites in local authority and public ownership with appropriate lands to be master-planned to deliver increased mixed-tenure housing, including social and more affordable housing.
