Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 December 2023
12. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps his Department is taking to ensure affordable housing is provided in counties Cavan and Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53596/23]
View answer23. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the delivery of housing on public owned sites in Dublin 9 and Dublin 11. [54216/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 23 together.
Under Housing for All, the Government has targeted delivery of 47,600 new build social homes; 3,500 social homes through long-term leasing, and 28,500 new affordable homes from 2022 to 2026.
Each local authority has prepared its own 5-year Housing Delivery Action Plan setting out their planned social and affordable housing delivery . 18 local authorities, including Dublin City Council, were asked to include planned affordable housing delivery, in line with Affordable Housing delivery targets assigned in March 2022. The Plans for Cavan, Monaghan and Dublin City are available on the websites of the local authorities concerned.
Cavan and Monaghan do not have affordable housing targets as the assessed level of affordably constrained need is not high in either county as house prices are below the national median. However, support from the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) is available to both counties should localised affordability needs occur. Neither county has applied for AHF assistance to date. Assistance with developing schemes is available from my Department, the LGMA and the Housing Agency if required.
I anticipate that the Croí Cónaithe Towns Fund, which includes funding for the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant and the Ready to Build Scheme, will prove valuable in addressing overall affordability needs in Cavan and Monaghan and both authorities have vacant homes officers in place who can assist the public with bringing vacant homes back into use, with up to €70,000 in grant support available to do so.
As regards Dublin City, it does have a number of large mixed tenure sites that it is developing and in respect of the particular areas of Dublin 9 and Dublin 11, funding is in place to support a significant mixed tenure development of 853 housing units, including 343 social, 340 cost rental and 170 affordable purchase units at Oscar Traynor Road. The site is being prepared to commence construction, with delivery expected over 2024 to 2027. Affordable Housing Fund approval is also in place to support the delivery of 12 new affordable purchase homes at Poppintree, Ballymun in 2024.
Comprehensive programme level statistics covering social and affordable housing delivery programmes are published quarterly. Data up to and including the second quarter of 2023 is available on the Department’s website.
The Affordable Delivery reports published include First Home scheme data and Cavan, Dublin City and Monaghan have seen significant early signs of take-up of this scheme which supports first time buyers to make a new home affordable for them.
Significant progress is being made to deliver the Government's ambitious social and affordable housing targets under Housing for All, and my Department is working to further accelerate delivery with local authorities, AHBs, the LDA, and via the First Home scheme.
