Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 December 2022
76. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a breakdown of the amount that each council will receive in tabular form in relation to the announcement that local authorities will be offered €100 million to pay off debts on condition they develop modular homes for accelerated social housing in the next two years. [62437/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra77. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will outline the debts that have been built up by local authorities, per local authority and the way that these debts were incurred in relation to the announcement that local authorities will be offered €100 million to pay off debts on condition they develop modular homes for accelerated social housing in the next two years; the person or body that will refund the local authorities; and the reason for the urgency for them to repay the debts. [62438/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra78. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if councils will be permitted to borrow funds to enable them to directly engage builders to construct meaningful numbers of dwellings on their land banks in relation to the announcement that local authorities will be offered €100 million to pay off debts on condition that they develop modular homes for accelerated social housing in the next two years (details supplied). [62439/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 76 to 78, inclusive, together.
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. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the Land Development Agency and €5bn funding through the Housing Finance Agency.
Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes; 3,500 social homes through long-term leasing and 28,500 new affordable homes in the period 2022-2026.
Under my Department’s Social Housing Investment Programme, funding is available to all local authorities to deliver additional social housing stock through direct construction or in partnership with developers under turnkey arrangements. These delivery approaches are 100% funded by my Department, with funding being provided to local authorities on a just in time basis as liabilities mature. Therefore, the requirement for local authorities to borrow funds to support delivery under the Social Housing Investment Programme does not arise.
Legacy lands debts arose from moneys advanced to local authorities from the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) for land purchased in the period 2000 to 2009. The impact of the loans on local authority balance sheets, along with the cost of repayment has been presenting serious challenges to the Local Government Sector for a number of years. It has prevented or deterred local authorities from purchasing further land and limited their capacity to borrow for other purposes.
In order to unlock the potential of some sites where local authorities have outstanding legacy loan balances so that they can be made immediately available for social housing development and to support additional local authority borrowing for other key delivery priorities, including Affordable and Cost Rental housing, the Government has agreed to the allocation of up to €100m to pay down loans which can deliver social housing projects linked to accelerated delivery. The Government has agreed to the allocation of this funding subject to sites meeting a number of criteria:
- The immediate development of a proposal for social housing delivery;
- That construction would commence in 2023 or no later than 2024; and
- The use of accelerated delivery models, principally off-site / Modern Methods of Construction.
My Department is currently engaging with local authorities on relevant sites that meet the aforementioned criteria and payment to local authorities will issue on qualifying sites before the end of the year.
