Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2023
69. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to confirm the amount of people who availed of the help-to-buy-scheme, local authority affordable purchase scheme, first-home scheme and the local authority home loan scheme in Cork in 2022; the amount of funding provided under these schemes in Cork in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33126/23]
View answer81. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the delivery of affordable housing in Cork city. [33088/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 69 and 81 together.
Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 54,000 affordable homes between now and 2030, to be facilitated by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), the Land Development Agency (LDA) and through a strategic partnership between the State and retail banks.
With 2022 representing the first full year of affordable housing delivery under the schemes introduced in the Affordable Housing Act 2021, local authorities have completed and submitted to my Department data returns on delivery of affordable homes in their area, in the same manner as is done for social housing. In total, just over €11.9 million in funding was provided through the Affordable Housing Fund to support Local Authority affordable purchase delivery in Cork in 2022, with a further €11.3 million in funding provided via the Cost Rental Equity Loan to support Approved Housing Bodies deliver Cost Rental tenancies. The full 2022 statistical data is published on the Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/#affordable-housing-delivery.
Following the publication of Housing for All in September 2021, I asked all 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 each local authority Housing Delivery Action Plan is available on their individual websites. Local authorities with the highest levels of affordable housing need, including Cork City and Cork County, were set five-year Affordable Delivery Targets.
2022 represented the commencement of a very ambitious programme of delivery of affordable housing. This momentum will continue with delivery increasing this year. A strong pipeline of affordable housing delivery is in place and under continuous development by local authorities, by Approved Housing Bodies using the Cost Rental Equity Loan, and by the Land Development Agency.
In addition, the First Home Scheme, launched on 7 July 2022, continues to support first-time buyers in purchasing new houses and apartments in the private market through the use of an equity share model and is available nationwide. Full details of the First Home Scheme are available at: www.firsthomescheme.ie.
Furthermore, the Local Authority Home Loan (LAHL) was introduced in January 2022 as the successor to the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan (RIHL). Loan applications in progress under the RIHL scheme continued to be processed into 2022. My Department regularly publishes information on the number and value of (i) local authority loan approvals and (ii) local authority loan drawdowns. Local authority approval means that an official letter of offer has been sent to a borrower (and therefore relates to a specific property and loan amount). Information on drawdowns, approvals, average drawdowns, and average approvals for both the LAHL and RIHL up to Q3 2022 is available at the following link, which will be updated as soon as figures are available: www.gov.ie/en/collection/42d2f-local-authority-loan-activity/#local-authority-loans-approvedpaid.
Lastly, the Help to Buy incentive comes under the remit of my colleague, Mr. Michael McGrath, TD, Minister for Finance, his Department and the Revenue Commissioners. More information on the latest annual Help to Buy statistics is available at the following link: www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/information-about-revenue/statistics/tax-expenditures/htb/htb-yearly.aspx.
