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Housing Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 September 2018

Thursday, 27 September 2018

Questions (5)

Darragh O'Brien

Question:

5. Deputy Darragh O'Brien asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of units due to be provided under the serviced sites fund in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39183/18]

View answer

Oral answers (10 contributions)

Turning to the area of affordable housing, I would like to ask the Minister how many units are due to be provided under the serviced site fund this year. How many have been delivered to date and has the Minister revised those targets?

I thank the Deputy for the question. On 29 June, I invited applications under the serviced sites fund from 11 local authorities to support the provision of key enabling infrastructure on their land, to get their sites ready for the delivery of affordable housing. The call and funding is being targeted initially at 11 local authority areas where it has been identified that there is a more pressing need for affordable housing, and where there are significant publicly-owned sites that could be used for affordable housing. These are the local authorities in Dublin as well as Cork, Galway city, Meath, Kildare, Louth and Wicklow.

The call closed on 30 August and the 15 proposals submitted by nine local authorities are currently being assessed by my Department. I expect to be in a position to make the initial awards of funding next month.

The Exchequer provision under the fund totals €75 million over the four years to 2021. When local authority co-funding is included, an overall minimum investment of €100 million will be available under the fund to offset the costs of providing both on-site and off-site enabling infrastructure for sites in order for them to be brought into use for affordable housing.

A total of €15 million in Exchequer funding has been allocated for 2018, to which the local authority minimum contribution of €5 million will be added. This should enable the provision of infrastructure for approximately 500 affordable homes, based on a maximum level of €40,000 infrastructure investment per home.

Am I correct in saying that nine local authorities have responded already and that they are being assessed by the Department? What two that did not respond and why? Affordable housing is a serious issue in the areas of the 11 local authorities and it is interesting to see that two have not even responded with proposals.

The original target was that 500 affordable units would be delivered in 2018. There was €20 million allocated as the Minister said. Do I take it from his answer that there will be no affordable housing units delivered in 2018? If that is incorrect, please let me know, as I will be glad to hear if I am wrong. I take it that if the Minister is assessing them and that this will not be completed until next month. I

f funding is awarded we are looking at the earliest time for construction being potentially starting next year. Could the Minister enlighten me on that? I would be particularly interested as to the two local authorities that did not respond to the call.

I thank the Deputy for his question. As I said in my initial reply, I called into 11 local authorities, nine came back to me on foot of that call and two did not come back to me. That was a judgment they made. I will publish information on that shortly when I can, once we have fully assessed the different proposals that have come in. The 11 local authorities we targeted are those that we know from data are having a very serious affordability challenge. That is not to say there may not be other local authorities that also have an affordability challenge. A separate information circular will go out to those local authorities in terms of them having to provide an economic assessment that shows there is an affordability squeeze in their areas when we compare it with existing homes being built and what they are being sold at or second homes also. That work is being done across the 31 local authority areas but we have prioritised those 11 local authorities where the affordability challenge is greatest.

An amount of €20 million has been allocated for this year and there will be a drawdown from that fund this year. It probably will not be the full amount and any money that is not drawn down will be moved into other areas of capital expenditure to make sure there is as much delivery as possible, in excess of our targets if possible, this year. Sites were under preparation ahead of that call. The ambition is 4,000 growing to 10,000 and that is before we talk about other aspects of the Land Development Agency, which is the subject of a separate question coming up.

When we look at this now at this point in the year, it is not likely we will see affordable homes under the serviced sites fund being completed this year. Other conversations are ongoing between myself and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform regarding the budget and in that context to see if there are quicker affordability wins that can be made. The Deputy will be aware of those conversations because he has been included in them.

I understand that and it is highly unlikely any affordable housing will be delivered this year. That is why I on behalf of my party, Fianna Fáil, have put affordable housing at the centre of our budget discussion and as a policy priority.

I want to ask the Minister about the €50 million in the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, that he has said he is allocating in this respect, increasing the potential funding to €100 million. I take it he is proposing there would be €100 million in the fund next year, which obviously has yet to be agreed in the context of the budget. I impress on him again the urgency of this matter. People who are working, have good jobs, pay taxes and pay high rents cannot attain their dream of owning a home and they are becoming increasingly frustrated and angry at this stage. Therefore, delivery needs to happen. The Minister had a target of building 500 houses this year but that will not be met; probably zero will be delivered. Houses must be delivered on an affordable basis next year. People need to see progress. That is what we in Fianna Fáil will be insisting upon. Will the Minister confirm again that €50 million funding in LIHAF will be added on top of the money in that fund for next year? Will he give a commitment he will name the two local authorities that did not respond to his call and that they will have to say why they did not?

I thank the Deputy for his supplementary question. He has put affordability at the centre of his budget request and I have put it at the centre of my work since I came into office. We all know in this House how important it is not only to deliver social housing homes and more homes but to make sure they are homes people can afford to buy. One thing we are doing to ensure that is putting in place an affordable purchase scheme and a cost rental scheme, which I have already commenced. That is not to say that homes that are built and sold that are not part of those schemes will not be affordable, they will be, and we have seen that in the prices up and down the country. However, the Deputy and I both recognise there are people on good incomes who cannot afford to buy homes at present and who want to, are ready to and are starting families and we have got to help them, and that is what we are trying to do. The Deputy will know that in the context of the budget negotiations that we have been trying to do that, so I will not go into those negotiations. The serviced sites fund is not the only mechanism for delivery, as the Deputy will be aware.

Because the affordability issue is very important to me, I moved the €50 million that was earmarked for a second LIHAF into the serviced sites fund earlier this year, as the Deputy will be aware, in order that we could have greater firepower behind that particular fund. In terms of a LIHAF 2, that has been subsumed into the new urban regeneration and development fund, the €2 billion war chest that we put behind Project Ireland 2040 to meet its goals beyond Rebuilding Ireland. I believe that fund will close tomorrow and we will be making announcements around that in October.

Thank you, Minister.

Will I have another opportunity to come back in?

I will quickly give the figures for the coming year, for which the Deputy asked. The figure is €20 million this year - this is Exchequer-local authority money - rising to €26.7 million next year and then continuing until we reach a total of €100 million. That is spread over the period between now and end of the timeframe for Rebuilding Ireland.

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