Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2023
350. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of social and affordable homes completed by Monaghan County Council in 2022; the targeted figure for 2023; the corresponding figures for approved housing bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4691/23]
View answerHousing for All is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the Land Development Agency and €5bn funding through the Housing Finance Agency.
My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in each local authority. This data is available to the end of Quarter 3 2022, and is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/ The Quarter 4 2022 social housing statistics are being collated and will be published in due course.
In September 2021, I issued social housing targets to each local authority for the period 2022-2026. Monaghan County Council has a target to deliver 56 new build social homes in 2023.
Last year represented the commencement of a very ambitious programme of delivery of affordable housing. A pipeline of affordable housing delivery is being developed by local authorities, by AHBs using the Cost Rental Equity Loan and by the Land Development Agency. Furthermore, local authorities have been begun collating information on the delivery of affordable homes in their area in the same manner as is currently done for social housing.
It is intended that information across all delivery streams will be gathered by my Department and I expect that my Department will be in a position to begin reporting on affordable delivery in national quarterly delivery statistics in Q1 2023.
The Affordable Housing Fund is available to assist all local authorities in bringing forward affordable housing schemes. Following the publication of Housing for All in September 2021, I asked local authorities to prepare Housing Delivery Action Plans. Each local authority was asked to assess the level of housing demand with affordability constraint projected for their area based on the Housing Need and Demand Assessment Tool and plan their provision accordingly. A copy of Monaghan County Council’s Housing Delivery Action Plan is available on its website at the following link: monaghan.ie/monaghan-county-councils-housing-delivery-action-plan-approved-by-department-and-published-online/
Local authorities with the highest levels of affordable housing need were asked to prepare Affordable Delivery Plans as part of their overall Plans and were set five-year Affordable Delivery Targets. Monaghan does not have a specific target as average house price levels in the county are still well below the national median, but I understand that there may be some localised affordability issues in certain areas which the local authority is examining.
Where there are localised challenges, funding can be made available to develop a scheme in line with Affordable Housing Fund criteria. While to date, my Department has not received any application for funding under the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) from Monaghan, my Department were in touch with Monaghan County Council’s Director of Housing last week and advised that they would be happy to meet officials from the Council to discuss potential affordable housing in Monaghan.
In addition, the First Home Scheme which was launched in July 2022, supports first-time buyers in purchasing new houses and apartments in the private market through the use of an equity share model. The Scheme aims to support in the region of 8,000 households in acquiring new homes in the private market in the years 2022 to 2026 with an overall budget of €400 million. The scheme is available nationwide, including Co. Monaghan. Full information on the scheme is available on the First Home Scheme dedicated website, www.firsthomescheme.ie.
Finally, the new Croí Cónaithe Towns Fund is also available in Monagan and it provides for grants for refurbishment of vacant properties of up to €30,000 or €50,000 if the property is derelict. I also announced last year, a new Ready to Build serviced sites scheme under the Fund where local authorities will provide sites at a discount to people who want to build their own home. Information on both of these scheme is available directly from Monaghan County Council.
