Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 May 2021
124. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of the housing need and demand assessment; and the household and new home completion targets for each local authority for the new county development plan process in tabular form. [26863/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraFurther to work commissioned by the Housing and Planning Divisions of my Department, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) published a report into structural housing demand in Ireland to 2040, in December 2020. The ESRI research report “Regional Demographics and Structural Housing Demand at County Level” projects an annual new household demand figure for each county from 2016 to 2040, for a number of difference development scenarios, including the National Planning Framework (NPF) scenario which supports balanced regional development and the consolidation our cities, towns and other urban areas.
Subsequently, a Ministerial Circular, and Ministerial Guidelines - ‘Housing Supply Target Methodology for Development Planning, Guidelines for Planning Authorities’ under Section 28 of the Planning & Development Act, 2000 (as amended), were issued to all local authorities. The Guidelines introduced a standardised national approach, based on the ESRI data, to be applied by each planning authority in projecting housing supply targets for each specific six-year period, when reviewing city or county development plans.
As each six-year development plan period will differ, new household projection data for each County to 2031 was also made available to each local authority to enable local projections and targets to be applied for the relevant period.
All related correspondence and data is available on my Department’s website at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/6d48f-ministerial-letter-to-local-authorities-structural-housing-demand-in-ireland-and-housing-supply-targets/
The housing supply target methodology also provides for a convergence period towards the NPF scenario to 2026, recognising that housing demand projections associated with existing spatial patterns (i.e. the baseline) will need a period to align with the NPF strategy projection. This also enables planning for increased housing supply in certain circumstances within the period to 2026, as set out in Section 4 of the Guidelines, where supported by a justification within the criteria specified. The Office of the Planning Regulator will examine such justifications as part of their statutory assessment of development plans function.
Each local authority is therefore required to apply the methodology to the particular timelines and projections for their County or City Development Plan as part of their development plan process. As all are individual development plans in respect of which the plan-making process is still underway, a table of local authority housing supply targets for each development plan is not yet available, but will be compiled for monitoring purposes as development plans are completed.
With regard to the preparation of Housing Need and Demand Assessments (HNDA), guidance was issued to local authorities on 14 April 2021 by Circular, advising that the Excel-based HNDA Tool with associated Instructions, data sources and other background information are available on the HNDA page of the Department’s website at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/eaa99-housing-need-and-demand-assessment-hnda/.
The Circular advised local authorities that it is expected that a HNDA will be completed in accordance with the associated guidance as part of the development plan review process in cases where the notice of the review of the plan issues subsequent to 14 April 2021.
