Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 February 2022
289. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the timeline for the delivery of 1,580 cost-rental homes scheduled to be delivered in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7302/22]
View answerOver the period to 2030, Housing for All commits to delivering a total of 18,000 Cost Rental homes. The delivery of these homes will be supported by funding across three delivery strands: Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), supported by Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) funding; Local Authorities through the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF), and the Land Development Agency (LDA), either on their portfolio of sites, or through Project Tosaigh. Together, these three delivery streams will see the development and tenanting of over 1,500 Cost Rental homes this year.
The CREL provides long-term low-interest loans to AHBs for 30% of the cost of delivery of new Cost Rental homes. Two calls for proposals for CREL funding have been made available to AHBs to date, with 911 homes approved in principle for funding. The first 65 of these were tenanted in 2021, with 25 at Taylor Hill in Balbriggan and a further 40 at Barnhall Meadows in Leixlip. The latter were completed in December, with cost-covering rents at least 42% below comparable open-market prices in the area: 2-bed houses with rent of €900 per month and 3-bed houses at €1,250 per month. Overall, AHBs are targeting the provision of 700 homes through CREL in 2022 from these approvals to date.
A further 50 two-bedroom Cost Rental apartments are in the final stages of completion at Enniskerry Road, Stepaside, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. These homes are being developed by the Respond and Tuath AHBs, funded through the Serviced Sites Fund, the precursor to the Affordable Housing Fund, and on land provided by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLRCC). This project is the result of an innovative collaboration between the two AHBs and DLRCC, and includes 105 social housing homes. The 50 purpose-built Cost Rental apartments are due to be tenanted over the coming weeks.
The LDA has targeted the delivery of the remaining Cost Rental homes in 2022 through Project Tosaigh, which is aimed at accelerating the delivery of up to 5,000 homes. The first delivery stream of this LDA initiative to bring privately developed units to market affordably and quickly was launched on 12 November 2021. The LDA issued a call for Expressions of Interest for advance purchase agreements to developers, with a target scheme scale in excess of 150 units per development, in the Greater Dublin Area, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. The Expressions of Interest submitted are currently being assessed by the LDA with their priority focus and engagement being on schemes with potential delivery in 2022 and 2023.
