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Social and Affordable Housing Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 December 2019

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

Questions (783)

Darragh O'Brien

Question:

783. Deputy Darragh O'Brien asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the first and full-year cost above current serviced sites fund allocations of achieving 5,000, 6,000, 7,000, 8,000, 9,000 and 10,000 intervals of new build affordable housing units, respectively based on current criteria and funding per unit. [53429/19]

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Written answers

In line with the commitments in Rebuilding Ireland, this Government has allocated €310 million under the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF) over the period 2019 to 2021 to provide infrastructure to support the delivery of more affordable homes on local authority lands.  A maximum SSF funding amount of €50,000 is available per home. This sum is comprised of €44,500 (or 89%) Exchequer contribution and a €5,500 (or 11%) local authority contribution.  On this basis, at least 6,200 more affordable homes, to buy or rent, can be facilitated by this measure alone.  This funding is being made available in areas where local authorities have demonstrated a requirement for more affordable housing and the viability to deliver such housing from their sites.

To date, I have allocated SSF funding of €127 million in support of 35 projects in 14 local authority areas.  This will provide for infrastructure works that will support the delivery of almost 3,200 affordable homes.  I anticipate that a further call for proposals under the SSF will issue to local authorities in 2020.  

The selling price of discounted dwellings made available for purchase under the affordable dwelling purchase arrangements will be influenced by a number of factors which will vary significantly from scheme to scheme.  This includes the overall development cost of each particular scheme (taking into account inputs such as the local authority land value and Serviced Sites Fund), the housing type/tenure mix involved and the local housing market.

Based on the maximum grant amount available per unit, the SFF the cost of delivering 5,000, 6,000, 7,000, 8,000, 9,000 and 10,000 new build affordable housing is set out in the following table.

Table  

Number of Affordable Homes

Cost of a maximum of €50,000 per affordable unit from the Serviced Sites Fund

5,000

€250m

6,000

€300m

7,000

€350m

8,000

€400m

9,000

€450m

10,000

€500m

 

My Department continues to focus on increasing overall affordable supply, and is taking a multi-stranded approach in this regard. In addition to SSF, funding of €200m has also been made available under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF).  LIHAF is also designed to activate housing supply by putting in place the enabling public infrastructure necessary to ensure that large-scale development could take place on key sites in urban areas of high housing demand.  30 projects received final approval, at a total cost of €195.71 million, of which €146.69 million (or 75%) will be funded by the Exchequer with local authorities funding the balance.  These projects will stimulate development of up to 20,000 housing units across 14 local authorities.  Approximately 7,800 of these homes will be offered at a discount on open market prices.  

These schemes will complement other key Government affordability initiatives, such as the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, and the Help to Buy Scheme, which have supported over 16,500 households nationally.

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