Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 May 2023
344. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide the average Exchequer expenditure per unit of cost rental housing when delivered through the affordable housing fund, the cost rental equity loan, and project tosaigh, broken down by funding stream, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21589/23]
View answerThe Government's Housing for All plan aims to deliver 18,000 Cost Rental homes by 2030, to be facilitated by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), local authorities, and the Land Development Agency (LDA).
With 2022 representing the first full year of delivery under the affordable housing schemes introduced in the Affordable Housing Act 2021, local authorities have begun to submit data returns and information on delivery of affordable homes in their area to my Department, in the same manner as is done for social housing. Cost rental delivery during 2022 is set out in the statistical data on affordable housing delivery as published last month on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/#affordable-housing-delivery
Cost information on the delivery of affordable homes through the various construction streams, is collated at development/project level rather than at individual housing unit level. The cost of delivering new homes is dependent on a range of variables, such as the location, the scale of the development and the size and type of the homes involved. In addition, the level of subvention provided under the Affordable Housing Fund towards the capital cost of an affordable housing scheme varies having regard to factors such as density of affordable units per hectare achieved and the location of the development. Subventions ranging from €50,000 to €150,000 are provided for under the Fund, with the Exchequer cost representing 95% of the subvention and the remaining 5% coming from a Local Authority contribution.
To date, I have given approval in principle under the Affordable Housing Fund for the subvention of 1,005 cost rental units across 6 schemes to the value of over €94 million. The average subvention per unit under the fund is therefore €93,532 with a direct exchequer contribution of €88,855 approximately and a local authority contribution of €4,677.
A total of €50.8 million was spent under the Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) in 2022, which allowed for the delivery of 470 cost rental units in eleven developments across four counties: Dublin, Cork, Kildare, and Meath. This gives an average exchequer contribution per unit of the order of €108,000 in respect of affordable units delivered with CREL assistance.
The LDA is also delivering Cost Rental homes under the Project Tosaigh initiative to unlock land with full planning permission that is not being developed by private sector owners. Funding to acquire homes is sourced from LDA access to up to €1.25bn of capital funding from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and its access to borrowings up to the same amount. Detailed information on its cost rental delivery can be found on the LDA’s website at: lda.ie/affordable-homes/lda-cost-rental
