Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 April 2022
321. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will report on the Housing for All for a new croí cónaithe fund to increase owner-occupier apartment development in city centres. [17552/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe national housing policy Housing for All, as launched in September 2021, provides a new pathway to a sustainable housing system, by clearly setting out how we plan to address the short, medium and long-term challenges ahead. The overall aim of this new housing plan for Ireland is that everyone in the State should have access to a home to purchase or rent at an affordable price, built to a high standard and in the right place, offering a high quality of life.
Aligned with the overall objective for compact growth, vibrant, liveable cities must offer options for both owner occupiers and renters in cities, at all income levels. A key focus of Housing for All is to ensure that those who wish to purchase a home, have sufficient location choice. This is particularly the case for the core of our cities, towns and villages.
The new Croí Cónaithe fund as outlined in Housing for All, is intended to ensure that aligned with the objectives of the National Planning Framework, additional choices are made available to home buyers in our urban cores, and town centres. It will do this by expanding home ownership options, where the choice is currently limited:
- In urban areas, for apartment living over a certain height/density threshold
- In towns, where options for building new private dwellings has been constrained by the lack of serviced sites.
It is clear that in higher density locations, there is insufficient apartments being built for sale. To overcome this viability challenge, and given the high level of unactivated permissions particularly for apartments in our urban areas, a Croí Cónaithe (Cities) fund is being established, which will ensure that these developments can be built more viably for sale to owner occupiers. This measure is based on activating the planning permissions already in place for such homes over the coming five years.
It will be managed by the Housing Agency on behalf of the Department, and will be operated on an open book accounting basis, to ensure that financial support provided feeds through in reduced costs to the home-buyers. It is also envisaged that measures in Housing for All to support greater construction productivity and reducing the cost of land through changes to planning legislation, will also encourage a more sustainable market for such housing thereafter.
My Department is currently working with the Housing Agency on finalizing the operational basis for the new fund and expect to engage prospective proposers in a call for proposals in Q2 2022.
