Housing for All is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. Over 300,000 new homes will be built by the end of 2030, including a projected 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes.
The Plan is backed by historic levels of investment with in excess of €20bn through the Exchequer, the Land Development Agency and the Housing Finance Agency over the next 5 years. This will provide the sector with the stability and certainty it needs.
Affordability of ownership and rental accommodation is at the heart of the Government’s housing policy. It recognises that significant new supports are needed so that those who want to own their own home can do so, and that those who wish to rent are able to do so at an affordable rate. A number of measures are set out under the plan to support this goal.
A new Local Authority Home Loan, was launched in early January and is available nationwide, for those on modest or low incomes who cannot get sufficient funding from commercial banks to purchase or build a home.
The key improvement of the new revised home loan is an increase to the income ceiling for single applicants by €15,000 to €65,000 where the house price limit under the scheme is €320,000 (i.e. Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Louth, Meath or Wicklow). In addition, a 0.25% interest rate reduction has been applied. These changes will have a significant impact on the numbers of potential applicants and has improved the affordability of the loan itself.
The Help to Buy incentive for first time buyers has been extended to the end of this year. An owner-occupier guarantee which requires Local Authorities to ensure home ownership as a tenure type is provided for and estimated in their Housing Strategies has also been introduced.
Housing for All commits to the introduction of two new affordable purchase schemes. The first will see the delivery of affordable homes by local authorities. The second will see the introduction of a 'First Home' affordable purchase shared equity scheme for homes in private developments. Both of these schemes will be targeted at households constrained by the maximum mortgage and deposit available to them. The gap between the market value and what the household can afford (including with the assistance of the ‘Help to Buy’ incentive) will be bridged via the provision of equity support. The equity support can subsequently be redeemed at any time at the home-owners discretion, or remain outstanding until the home is sold or passed on.
The delivery of Cost Rental homes is a key affordability measure under Housing for All, with State-backed rents that are in the order of 25% below what they would be on the private market. 65 cost rental homes have been tenanted to date, in developments in Balbriggan and Leixlip, and a further 1,580 cost rental homes are targeted for delivery in 2022.
To support local authorities in the delivery of affordable homes, the Affordable Housing Fund has replaced the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF). The Fund has been open for applications from 1 September 2021. My Department has actively engaged with the Local Authorities to support and encourage them to develop and submit proposals. The homes that Local Authorities deliver under the Affordable Housing Fund will be sold at least 15% below open market value in respect of Affordable Purchase homes and in the order of 25% below open market value prices in respect of Cost Rental homes.
The Land Development Agency (LDA) has a key role in the delivery of affordable homes, including through “Project Tosaigh” aimed at accelerating the delivery of up to 5,000 homes. The first delivery stream of this LDA initiative to bring privately developed units to market affordably and quickly was launched on 12 November 2021. The LDA issued a call for Expressions of Interest for advance purchase agreements to developers, with a target scheme scale in excess of 150 units per development, in the Greater Dublin Area, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. The Expressions of Interest submitted are currently being assessed by the LDA with their priority focus and engagement being on schemes with potential delivery in 2022 and 2023.
Stream 2 of Project Tosaigh will be launched in the coming months and will target more comprehensive developer partnerships (rather than specific developments) to deliver a stable flow of affordable homes over a 3 to 4 year period. It is intended that the homes, upon acquisition, will be primarily owned and managed by the LDA for the provision of cost rental accommodation and/or sold as affordable homes. These homes will be targeted at those middle-income households that do not qualify for social housing, but struggle to afford open market housing, i.e. household incomes of broadly €45,000 to €80,000 per annum
In addition, the LDA has specific statutory responsibility to deliver affordable housing, primarily on State land. Housing for All identifies 20 State land sites that will be transferred to the LDA which have the potential to provide 15,000 homes. Initial discussions are underway on the transfer of each of the sites identified in Housing for All, with work further progressed on 14 additional sites identified prior to the publication of Housing for All. A number of these 14 sites have received planning permission or will submit a planning permission application in 2022.
A key action under Housing for All provides that local authorities were required to prepare a Housing Delivery Action Plan, setting out details of social and affordable housing delivery over the next five years. All local authorities submitted their plan to me in December and my Department is engaging with local authorities on these plans, in particular their alignment with the targets and policy objectives set out in Housing for All. The Plans will be published in Quarter 2 of 2022. Increased capacity of the public service to deliver, along with the streamlining of approval processes in relation to housing delivery are key priorities under Housing for All. Over 200 additional posts have been sanctioned and are in the process of being filled across Local Authority housing delivery teams in order to deliver on the scale of Housing for All’s ambition.
With regard to construction more generally, and the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade, indications of increased activity are becoming evident. The number of homes delivered in the year to end-Q3 2021 was 20,903, while the number of commencements in 2021 was 30,724, reflecting a greater than 3-fold increase in commencements since 2015 and a steady upward trend in the number of commencements. The most recent CSO figures on planning permissions also show a strong pipeline, with 39,077 units (apartments/flats and houses) granted planning permission in the 12 months to end Q3 2021. This pipeline data gives confidence that we are on a strong upward trajectory in the delivery of our housing supply targets.
