Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 February 2024
119. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage how he intends to ramp up the supply of housing in towns and villages outside the major urban areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6872/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe National Planning Framework is a broad national plan for strategic planning and sustainable development of urban and rural areas to 2040, with the core objectives of securing balanced regional development and a sustainable ‘compact growth’ approach to the form and pattern of future development, having regard to projected population growth and the need to accommodate this growth through the provision of additional housing.
Each planning authority is responsible for adopting a development plan, required to be consistent with the NPF and the relevant Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy, which sets out the 6 year plan for development in each local authority area. Planning authorities include objectives in their development plan to set out how Housing Supply Targets may be achieved, including through the zoning of land for residential use across a range of settlements, in addition to objectives relating to the provision of housing in rural areas.
Housing for All, published in 2021 to align with the National Planning Framework, currently plans 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. A comprehensive and broadly-based implementation strategy is in place across the various affordable housing schemes now being delivered by a range of delivery partners, including local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, and the Land Development Agency. 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.
In order to incentivise the activation of zoned and serviced land for housing development in all settlements, the Residential Zoned Land Tax was introduced in the Finance Act 2021, and will come into effect in 2025.
In addition, the Town Centre First Policy was launched on 4 February 2022 and now provides a co-ordinated, whole-of-government policy framework to proactively address the decline in the health of towns across Ireland and support measures to regenerate and revitalise them and advocates for a place-based approach to the revitalisation of towns and villages.
Town Regeneration Officers have been appointed to drive the delivery of TCF on a local level, while the National Town Centre First Office will drive the implementation of the policy and coordinate stakeholder engagement at a national level and across the local government sector.
Aligned with the policy objective of promoting increased housing supply across all settlements including towns and villages, a number of funding initiatives have been introduced to support increased housing supply, including through support for reducing vacancy and dereliction across the Country.
The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant supports bringing vacant and derelict properties back into use. A grant of up to a maximum of €50,000 is available for the refurbishment of vacant properties for occupation as a principal private residence and for properties which will be made available for rent.
Under the Ready to Build Scheme, local authorities will make serviced sites in towns and villages available to potential individual purchasers (self-builders). These sites will be available at a discount on the market value of the site and sold for the building of a property for occupation as the principal private residence of the purchaser.
Since February 2018 to end September 2023, loans of over €605m have been drawn down, with some 3,684 households achieving homeownership using the Local Authority Home Loan and its predecessor the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan. The Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme, the Help to Buy Scheme and the First Home Scheme also support additional housing supply in towns and villages.
In January 2023, my Department also established a €150m revolving fund under the Urban Regional Development Fund (URDF) to address long term vacancy and dereliction across URDF eligible cities and towns. The fund will allow local authorities to acquire long term (> 2 years) vacant or derelict properties (residential and/or commercial) and to carry out any associated works needed to de-risk or improve the property to make it more attractive for re-use or sale. The fund will then be replenished from the proceeds received from the end use/user thereby, allowing the local authority to put in place a rolling programme of acquisitions in order to tackle long term vacancy and dereliction without recourse to borrowing and the associated financial risk.
