Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 March 2023
208. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason Louth County Council is no longer taking properties for long-term lease, further to departmental advice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10624/23]
View answerUnder Housing for All the Government plans to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 homes per year over the next decade. Over 300,000 new homes will be built by the end of 2030, including a projected 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes.
This includes the delivery of 47,600 new build social homes in the period 2022-2026. 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.
Housing for All sets out that there will a managed phasing out of new long term leasing projects over the lifetime of the plan. It is envisaged that 3,500 units will be delivered through long term leasing from 2022 to 2025. The number of new entrants and projects into the long term leasing scheme is reducing over the lifetime of the plan; tapering down from a target of 1,300 units in 2022 to 200 units in 2025.
As such, Housing for All leasing targets were assigned to 13 Local Authorities to deliver 3,500 social homes nationally through long term leasing from 2022 to 2025. Most of these targets are now subscribed with agreed proposals. Louth County Council were assigned a target of 34 units under Housing for All. To the end of Q3 2022 Louth County Council delivered 11 units through long term leasing and the balance of Louth County Council's long term leasing target was fully subscribed.
