Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2017
18. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will define affordable housing in terms of household income in his Department's plans such as the local infrastructure housing activation fund or the land bank plan; and the way in which he plans to ensure housing units delivered under these plans will be below affordable price points. [33403/17]
View answerThe cost of housing, and its affordability for a particular household, is a key issue and one that has been the subject of considerable focus in many countries. While there is no universally ideal price/rent to income ratio or minimum residual income requirement there is broad agreement that ideally households should be spending no more than a third of their income on housing costs over the longer term.
In terms of housing more broadly, a suite of measures have been taken to make housing construction viable at more affordable price points, including the €226m local infrastructure housing activation fund; leveraging the value of State-owned lands to deliver a more affordable rental offering in Rent Pressure Zones; streamlined planning systems for housing developments; and other planning reforms to provide flexibility to deliver viable housing schemes and apartment developments in the right locations.
On 27 April, details of some 1,500 hectares of land in local authority and housing agency ownership were published on the Rebuilding Ireland Housing Land Map, with the potential to deliver 37,500 homes nationally. All local authorities have been requested to prepare Strategic Development and Management Plans for the earliest possible development of their lands. The final model for each site will be formulated in the context of these Plans but, in practice, it will include proposals for social housing and housing at more affordable prices and rents.
In the case of LIHAF, the aim is to ensure that an affordability return is secured for the investment in public infrastructure involved. Again, with a wide range of funding being provided for very different sites, involving varying scales of housing delivery, it will be for each local authority to conclude an agreement with the housing providers involved on the particular approach to be taken to secure the affordability dividend in each individual case, taking account of the circulars issued by my Department.
I have initiated a targeted review of Rebuilding Ireland, with an emphasis on strengthening the measures already in place and identifying new initiatives that add value and raise ambition. As part of this review process, which I intend to conclude by September, I have asked my Department to focus in particular on the broad issue of housing affordability and how we can facilitate more households to access the housing of their choice.
