Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 December 2023
3. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of affordable homes delivered via the Affordable Housing Fund, the Cost Rental Equity Loan and Project Tosaigh by the end of Q3 of this year; and to estimate the number of homes that will be delivered via these schemes by the end of the year. [54357/23]
View answerAs of quarter 2 this year only 123 affordable homes had been delivered through the Government's affordable housing fund, the cost rental equity loan and Project Tosaigh. The quarter 3 figures should have been published some time ago. I believe they are with the Department. Will the Minister of State tell us the quarter 3 figures for those three crucial schemes, which are the affordable housing fund for affordable purchase, the cost rental equity loan for cost rental through approved housing bodies and Project Tosaigh through the Land Development Agency?
Housing for All sets out a range of actions necessary to increase the supply of housing to the required average of 33,000 homes, per year over the next decade. Some 54,000 affordable homes will be delivered between now and 2030, facilitated by local authorities, approved housing bodies, the Land Development Agency and through the first home scheme, which is a strategic partnership between the State and retail banks. In the first 18 months of the new programme, more than 3,000 affordable homes have been delivered, supported by the affordable housing fund, the cost rental equity loan, Project Tosaigh and the first home scheme. This momentum will continue as the pipeline of affordable housing delivery is developed and expanded by our delivery partners, including local authorities, AHBs, the LDA, and the first home scheme. In the past month alone the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, approved funding of €448 million for more than 1,900 affordable homes in eight local authority areas. Data for affordable housing delivery is published quarterly, similar to social housing delivery. This data is published up to the second quarter of 2023, and is available on the Department website. Local authorities are in the process of systematically collating information on the delivery of affordable purchase and cost rental homes in their administrative areas, including returns for AHBs and the LDA, for the third quarter of 2023. This data is currently being verified and I expect my Department will be in a position to report confirmed quarter 3 social, affordable purchase and cost rental housing delivery shortly.
The Minister of State said in his response that more than 3,000 affordable homes have been delivered through four Government housing schemes. That is not true. If he reads the detail of the information on his own website, almost 2,000 of those homes are under the first home scheme - the controversial shared equity loan. However, there is a footnote in that report stating those 1,917 first home loans are approvals only, and not actual purchases. To say, for example, that they are all homes delivered is not true. You need to use the figure on the first home scheme's website, which is the actual homes purchased. At the end of quarter 3 this year, the cumulative total since that scheme opened is 699. That means 1,218 homes have to be deducted from the Minister of State's figure as they have not been delivered. The loans have been approved, and I am not disputing that. However, it is not factually accurate to come to this House and say more than 3,000 affordable homes have been delivered. It is also deeply disappointing that we see continued delays in the publication of the affordable and social housing statistics. They used to be delivered within one month of the end of the quarter. I do not believe they are still being processed, and I would like to at least have a date when they will be available to us.
As I said, the information is being collated and will be brought forward shortly and posted on our website. On the figure of 3,000 affordable homes, more than 770 cost rental homes were delivered by AHBs and local authorities. Some 1,039 affordable purchase homes have to date been advertised by local authorities for homes delivered in 2022, and for delivery this year and next year.
I have other examples. In partnership with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the LDA has commenced construction of 597 homes, including 306 cost-rental, 91 affordable purchase and 200 social, at Shanganagh. The LDA has commenced construction on State lands in phase 1 of housing delivery at the site of the former St. Kevin's Hospital in Cork city. That project will deliver 265 homes, made up of 119 affordable purchase, 119 cost-rental and 25 Part V social housing units The first home shared equity scheme was launched on 27 July 2022, with more than 2,500 approvals given under the scheme. There is delivery at scale. I acknowledge the point the Deputy is making but we are delivering homes that are affordable for individuals and families right across the country.
The idea that the very small number of affordable purchase and affordable cost-rental homes that have been delivered over three years is delivery at scale is laughable. The numbers speak for themselves. We had a discussion about this last night. It is very interesting that in his first response, the Minister of State talked about several thousand homes being delivered through the first home scheme. He now accepts that they have not been delivered and people are not living in those homes. They are simply loan approvals. It would be much more honest if he were to report the figure for the number of homes actually purchased, which was only 699 at the end of quarter 3 out of the 2,500 approvals he mentioned. It is really important that we have accurate data.
What is also very concerning is the price of these homes. We are now seeing affordable cost rentals at unaffordable rates of €1,550 a month. In my constituency, affordable purchase homes are now costing between €407,000 and €435,000. That is just insane. Not only is the Minister of State not delivering the homes he promised and misrepresenting the record by referring to approvals rather than purchases, but the homes are not affordable in the first place. I would like to hear his response to that.
I will provide some more examples of affordable purchase homes being made available. Hampton Gardens Close in Balbriggan includes nine one-bedroom apartments and nine two-bedroom ground-floor duplexes costing between €170,000 and €220,000. Hawkes Road in Bishopstown, Cork, has 35 two- and three-bedroom homes for €246,000 to €289,000. At Dun Emer in Lusk, there are two- and three-bedroom homes for €166,000 to €245,000. Bower Hill in Athlone, County Westmeath, has three-bedroom homes costing between €248,000 and €288,000. These homes are within the affordable bracket.
On the overall delivery figures, including for Project Tosaigh, there is intensive engagement on the advancement of a delivery pipeline for 1,855 cost-rental houses and apartments, with an additional pipeline also being explored. The figures I am giving are for actual delivery and future delivery of affordable, cost-rental and Project Tosaigh homes for families.
What the Minister of State left out from that list of figures is the affordable home equity stake the State acquires, which has to be paid back. I am not disputing that the figures given are the prices at the point of purchase but anybody who purchases one of those homes also has to repay the shared equity portion at a future point. They can do that either with a lump sum or on transfer or sale, and there is no interest. It would be much more honest if the Minister of State set out the purchase price and the all-in price. In many of these cases, the affordable housing fund element is significantly higher than what he has said. The worry is that in many areas, we are seeing purchase prices of €307,000 to €350,000 and affordable housing fund equity of €100,00, which will be a really big millstone around any family's neck. It would be much more appropriate to be honest about that.
It is likewise with cost rentals, with rent prices pushing up and up. One of the reasons the Land Development Agency will not borrow any money under its current mandate and is seeking additional ISIF and Exchequer funding is that if it starts to borrow, its cost rents will push up to €16,000, €17,000 and €18,000. A rent of €1,450, €1,500 or €1,550 a month is not affordable cost rental. It needs to be lower. The Minister of State must address the rising level of these rents because they are increasingly unaffordable for the very people for whom the cost-rental provision is meant.
My Department, working with our partners, is looking at all these issues. On 18 July, as the Deputy is aware, the CREL - cost rental equity loan - working group approved additional supports for AHBs to deliver cost-rental homes by increasing funding up to 45% for capital costs. As I mentioned, Project Tosaigh is designed to manage planning permissions and deliver these projects at scale. The Department keeps the schemes under constant review to ensure they remain affordable and there is a strong delivery pipeline right across the country.
