Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 April 2024
42. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage what measures he has put in place to support renters seeking accommodation who are not eligible for local authority housing in the north-West. [15766/24]
View answerThe Government’s Housing for All plan is focused on tackling supply and affordability issues in the rental market. The plan contains targets, actions and guaranteed State investment aimed at increasing supply, which in turn will help increase access to affordable rental housing.
The Government is providing a range of measures to support renters, which include:
• Budget 2024 increased the tax credit for renters to €750;
• As committed to under Housing for All, affordable Cost Rental homes are coming onto the market, some of which have been advertised at rates that are 40% to 50% lower than market rent. This form of tenure targets middle-income households, with household net annual income of less than €59,000;
• To date there are over 1,600 Cost Rental homes in the State delivered by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), Local Authorities and the LDA;
• Further progress is being made by the LDA providing affordable and social housing through their market engagement initiative, Project Tosaigh, and through their work developing relevant public land;
• In 2023, the LDA has delivered over 560 Cost Rental homes through Project Tosaigh in four local authority areas, with over 2,500 Social, Affordable Purchase and Cost Rental homes having now either been delivered, contracted or recommended to proceed to procurement under this initiative;
• Over €675m has been approved under the Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) to assist in the delivery of over 3,250 Cost Rental homes across 12 local authority areas. In addition, key changes made to the CREL scheme in 2023 are now supporting additional delivery in 2024 and onwards;
• There is a further pipeline of 1,437 local authority Cost Rental homes across thirteen projects.
• The Secure Tenancy Affordable Rental scheme (STAR) provides investment of up to €750m for the delivery of new Cost Rental homes by the private sector out to 2027. This scheme aims to address viability challenges in the housing sector & activate un-commenced sites. To date 25 applications have been received. In 2023 I approved STAR funding totalling €59.6m to support the delivery of 426 cost rental units;
• In July 2021, the Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ) were extended until to the end of 2024 and have banned any rent increase in a RPZ from exceeding general inflation; this measure significantly reduced the level of permissible rent increases for the estimated 77% of all tenancies which are in RPZs;
• In December 2021, legislation was enacted to cap rent increases at a maximum of 2% in Rent Pressure Zones where general inflation is higher; and
• Legislation enacted in 2022 provided for tenancies of unlimited duration. All new tenancies created on or after 11 June 2022 will become tenancies of unlimited duration after 6 consecutive months in occupation under the tenancy, without a valid notice of termination having been served.
Increasing social and affordable housing output will relieve pressure on all parts of the housing system, none more so than the rental market, by helping first time buyers purchase their own home or getting those on the social housing list into a social home of their own, further rental supply is made available.
Social housing delivery statistics, published on 28 March 2024, show 11,939 new social homes were delivered in 2023. This is a significant increase on 2022, which in itself was the best year of delivery since the mid-1970s. The 8,110 new-build social homes represents the highest level of delivery of new-build social housing in half a century.
The delivery of affordable housing has more than doubled in 2023 when compared with the previous year with over 4,000 affordable homes delivered in 2023. This includes both affordable purchase and cost rental homes via Local Authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, the Land Development Agency (LDA), the First Home Scheme and through the new Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant.
It is clear that affordable housing schemes are now operating at a scale that is required. The First Home Scheme in particular has proven to be a key support for first-time buyers. Over 3,100 First Home Scheme approvals have issued since its launch in July 2022, with over 2,400 of those issued in 2023. This scheme continues to support first-time buyers and other eligible homebuyers in purchasing new houses and apartments in the private market. In addition, since September 2023, the First Home Scheme now supports those who wish to build their own home.
On 7 March 2023, the Government agreed to develop legislation to give tenants the opportunity to buy their home including the development of a legislative based “first right of refusal”. The General Scheme of the Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill was approved by Government on 24 October 2023. The Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage undertook Pre-Legislative Scrutiny (PLS) of the General Scheme in December 2023 and published its report on 19 December 2023. Priority legal drafting is continuing and publication of the Bill is expected in Q2 2024.
