Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 May 2022
221. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total number of respondents nationally to the call by the Land Development Agency for projects under Project Tosaigh; the number of respondents for same in Dublin; the aggregate potential in terms of homes; the approach that the LDA proposes to take in selecting sites on which to deliver homes at an affordable price. [25948/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Land Development Agency’s (LDA) Project Tosaigh is a market engagement initiative to unlock land with full planning permission that is not being developed by private sector owners due to financing and other constraints and use it to accelerate the supply of affordable housing.
Itallows the LDA to supplement the State lands it is already working on and accelerate the delivery of cost rental and affordable purchase homes by unlocking private land that is ready to be developed but where construction has stalled or not commenced.
The first strand of Project Tosaigh involved an expressions of interest (EOI) process, launched in November 2021, to engage builders and landowners in forward purchase agreements, with the intention of securing stock in certain developments in the shorter term. The LDA received an overall positive market response, with over 65 Expressions of Interest comprising over 100 development projects.
The LDA has advised my Department that their project team has evaluated a significant proportion of the proposals over the past number of months, focusing on those with potential for delivery in 2022 first, and advanced a number of them to pre-contract stage (i.e., Commercial Heads of Terms exchanged with the counterparties). While delivery is a clear objective, the LDA is also focused on value for money considerations.
In parallel, schemes submitted where delivery would be expected to begin in 2023 and thereafter are being reviewed and engagements with parties in respect of those schemes are now underway.
The target under Project Tosaigh is the delivery of 5,000 new homes by 2026 for affordable cost rental or sale to eligible households under affordable purchase arrangements.
