A three-pronged, targeted approach to affordable housing is being pursued.
Firstly, in terms of affordable housing for purchase, relevant provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 have been commenced, which place the new scheme for affordable purchase on a statutory footing. This Scheme, aimed at households earning low to moderate annual gross incomes up to €50,000 for a single applicant and €75,000 for dual applicants, will be delivered by local authorities developing their sites in key locations. The Scheme will be complementary to other Government Schemes which help first-time buyers to buy a home, such as the Help to Buy Scheme and the new Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan scheme.
In order to support local authorities to get their sites ready for affordable housing, I am providing additional funding for enabling infrastructure via the Serviced Sites Fund. This overall minimum investment of €100 million will provide funding for those sites that require infrastructural investment in order for them to be brought into use for affordable housing. The bids received from local authorities under the first call are now being assessed, and I expect to make initial funding awards this month.
Secondly, I am determined that cost rental homes become a major part of our rental landscape in the future, making a sustainable impact on housing affordability, national competitiveness, and the attractiveness of our main urban centres as places to live as well as work. Cost rental is an important component of progressive housing systems around Europe. Two cost rental projects have previously been announced for Emmet Road, Inchicore, and at Enniskerry Road, Dundrum. Learning from these pilot projects, I expect cost rental projects to be rolled out across other suitable sites.
Thirdly, the Government has now launched the Land Development Agency which is aiming to build some 150,000 new homes over the next 20 years. The new Agency has an immediate focus on managing the State’s own lands to develop new homes, with at least 40% of these homes being for social and affordable housing purposes.
Under Rebuilding Ireland, a commitment was made to the delivery of 137,000 social housing supports across build, acquisition and leasing programmes, as well as the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) over the 6 year period of the programme. Between Q1 2016 and end Q2 2018, over 57,000 of these solutions have been delivered.
HAP is a flexible and immediate housing support that is now available to all eligible households throughout the State. HAP plays a vital role in housing eligible families and individuals. At end Q2 2018, there were more than 37,700 households having their housing needs met via HAP and over 21,000 landlords and agents in receipt of HAP payments.
At the end of the 6 year Rebuilding Ireland programme, the aim is to have reached a point where build, acquisition and leasing programmes will be delivering more than HAP and RAS annually, as part of the process to deliver a sustainable and balanced supply of social and affordable housing over the short, medium and longer terms.
