Part 5 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 provides a new statutory basis for the delivery of affordable housing for purchase. The Act itself contains significant detail on the new arrangements, reducing the extent to which regulations are required. Insofar as regulations are necessary, the most immediate requirement is for regulations dealing with the making of schemes of priority by local authorities. I will be signing regulations which will deal with that issue shortly, which will allow local authorities to finalise their schemes of priorities by June, as required. Further regulations and detailed guidance will issue to local authorities in the coming weeks.
The new affordable housing scheme will be targeted towards low to middle income first time buyer households. In terms of the priority areas for operation of the scheme, this will be influenced by the economic assessments which local authorities were asked to carry out in relation to the affordability issues in their areas.
The affordable housing scheme will be open to applications according as projects are delivered. In that regard, significant delivery is to be achieved through the €310 million Serviced Site Fund, under which at least 6,200 affordable homes are to be supported over the next three years. An initial ten projects have been approved for €43 million of funding under the SSF’s first call for proposals, which are detailed in the following table:
Local Authority
|
Project/ Location
|
Total provisional cost of proposal
|
Provisional Exchequer grant amount
|
Provisional local authority contribution
|
Affordable housing potential
|
Cork County
|
Glanmire
|
€1,500,000
|
€1,335,000
|
€165,000
|
20
|
Cork City
|
Boherboy Road
|
€4,968,366
|
€4,421,846
|
€546,520
|
103
|
Cork City
|
Kilmore Road, Churchfield
|
€1,410,551
|
€1,255,390
|
€155,160
|
21
|
Dublin City
|
Cherry Orchard
|
€7,645,415
|
€6,804,419
|
€840,996
|
183
|
Dublin City
|
Balbutcher, Ballymun
|
€4,135,351
|
€3,680,462
|
€454,889
|
74
|
Dublin City
|
Sillogue, Ballymun
|
€3,975,000
|
€3,537,750
|
€437,250
|
83
|
DLR
|
Enniskerry Road
|
€4,537,576
|
€4,038,443
|
€499,133
|
50
|
Fingal
|
Church Fields, Mulhuddart
|
€11,000,000
|
€9,790,000
|
€1,210,000
|
753
|
Fingal
|
Dun Emer, Lusk
|
€1,500,000
|
€1,335,000
|
€165,000
|
74
|
Fingal
|
Hackettstown, Skerries
|
€2,198,667
|
€1,956,814
|
€241,853
|
49
|
Total
|
|
€42,870,926
|
€38,155,124
|
€4,715,801
|
1410
|
A second call under the SSF will issue shortly. It is expected that the first tranche of affordable homes will be delivered next year.
In addition, some 2,350 affordable homes will be delivered on mainly publicly owned lands being supported through the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund, while 5,600 further homes will benefit from a LIHAF-related cost reduction. The work of the Land Development Agency will also be of crucial importance in terms of delivering more affordable housing; the initial portfolio of sites that the Agency has access to will have the potential, over the short to medium term, to deliver 3,000 affordable homes in line with the Government policy of achieving 30% affordable housing on State lands generally.
In parallel with this, the Dublin local authorities continue to progress a number of other significant housing projects on publicly owned lands, including the redevelopment of O'Devaney Gardens and a site at Oscar Traynor Road in Dublin city, yielding some 250 affordable homes, and 380 cost rental homes to be delivered between projects at the former St. Michael's Estate in Inchicore and at Enniskerry Road in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. The timing of delivery under these projects is contingent on the completion of planning and procurement in the first instance, but the local authorities are working to achieve delivery as quickly as possible.