Housing for All: First quarterly progress report published
- Foilsithe: 20 Deireadh Fómhair 2021
- An t-eolas is déanaí: 12 Aibreán 2025
The government today published the first quarterly progress report under Housing for All, A new Housing Plan for Ireland.
Housing for All commits to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade, backed by unprecedented levels of government investment in social and affordable housing.
The report showed the delivery rate for the plan to date stands at 91%, with 10 of 11 measures delivered on schedule.
In addition to the progress made in implementation of the plan, Q3 has also seen a welcome rise in key indicators of activity in the Housing sector, such as commencements and completions.
A number of measures have been achieved in Q3, including:
- provision for establishment of the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme, which will enable Local Authorities to make homes available at reduced prices
- establishment of the Affordable Housing Fund, which underpins the Affordable Purchase Scheme
- provision for establishment of First Home Shared Equity Scheme. This scheme is aimed at first time buyers who need support to purchase newly built homes in private developments
- introduction of Cost Rental, which is a new form of tenure under which rents charged only cover the cost of developing, financing, managing and maintaining the homes. The government plans to provide an average of 2,000 Cost Rental homes per year during the lifetime of Housing for All
- extension of Rent Pressure Zone protections to end of 2024
- increased obligations on developers which will result in more housing being made available to the state for social, affordable and cost rental purposes
Housing for All provides for an optimal mix of social, affordable and private housing for sale and rent. It provides for sustainable and high-quality housing in well-planned communities across Ireland. It is underpinned by measures to support availability of the land, workforce, funding and capacity to enable both the public and private sectors to meet the targets outlined in the plan.
An unprecedented €12 billion in direct exchequer funding for social and affordable housing has been allocated through the National Development Plan for the period to 2025.
Budget 2022 made €4 billion in Exchequer funding available for housing in 2022, the single biggest allocation by any government in a year.
Budget 2022 also included a series of measures to align with the objectives of the plan, including extending the Help to Buy Scheme to support affordability and the introduction of tax reforms to support further availability of land.
On 28 September, the government announced a review of planning legislation, another key enabler in the delivery of the plan’s objectives. The review, which will be overseen by the Attorney General and a dedicated working group of professionals with planning law expertise, will improve the functioning of the planning process and improve Ireland’s national competitiveness.
Commenting on the publication of the report, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin said:
“Housing remains the single most urgent and important social issue facing our country. I am delighted to see this early progress in the implementation of Housing for All, particularly the focus on affordability measures highlighted in the Quarter Three report. Over the past number of weeks, Government has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to the delivery of the plan. The revised National Development Plan saw an unprecedented allocation of €12bn to provide social and affordable housing.
"The government’s focus on boosting housing supply and increasing access to affordable housing was also evident from Budget 2022. In addition to investment in many of the measures outlined in Housing for All, the tax reforms introduced in Budget 2022 will incentivise greater development and play an important role in increasing housing supply.
"I remain confident that by working together to implement Housing for All, this government can deliver a long-term sustainable housing system for this and future generations."
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar said:
"The government is determined to achieve its goal of ensuring that many more people can own their own home. This first Housing for All report shows that progress is being made. The biggest social house-building programme in generations is underway. More than 20,000 new homes are being built annually and this number is rising. The Help to Buy Scheme has approved more than 28,500 applications so far to help people raise a deposit to buy their first home. This is a policy that many in the Opposition want to scrap. I look forward to further progress in the coming year."
The Minister for the Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport, Eamon Ryan, emphasised the importance of environmental sustainability in achieving a sustainable housing system:
"Sustainability is an underlying and enabling seam across the four pathways in Housing for All. In demonstrating our commitment to transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient society, Government has allocated €202 million from carbon tax revenue for residential and community retrofit schemes (over 22,000 home energy upgrades in total). More than half of the funding will be for free upgrades for low-income households at risk of energy poverty.
"The forthcoming Climate Action Plan will outline further measures to achieve a sustainable housing system."
Commenting on progress since publication of the Plan, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien said:
“Despite it being just a little over six weeks since publication of Housing for All, considerable progress has been made in implementing a number of important elements of the Plan.
"The review of our planning laws, approved by Government in September, will bring about fundamental improvements and support the accelerated delivery of housing. It is a further demonstration of this government’s commitment to responding with ambition and commitment to the challenge of our time.
"€4 billion is being made available for housing in 2022. This is the single biggest allocation for housing investment by any government in a year, and represents a 20% increase on 2021. It includes investment of over €400m in measures to support homeownership and increase access to affordable homes, as well as €194m to provide emergency accommodation and other services to households experiencing homelessness.
"This record investment will happen in parallel with major measures and reforms committed to under Housing for All and I look forward to continuing to work with colleagues across Government as we drive forward implementation of the Plan in quarter four and beyond."
Notes
- ‘Housing for All’ is the government’s housing plan for Ireland to 2030. It can be read at www.gov.ie/housingforall. The plan’s overall objective is: ‘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.’
‘Housing for All’ contains four pathways:
- Pathway to Supporting Homeownership and Increasing Affordability
- Pathway to Eradicating Homelessness, Increasing Social Housing Delivery and Supporting Social Inclusion
- Pathway to Increasing New Housing Supply
- Pathways to Addressing Vacancy and Efficient Use of Existing Stock
These four pathways are underpinned by a range of actions to enable a sustainable housing system.
‘Housing for All’ contains the following supply targets:
- 33,000 new units, on average, per annum up to and including 2030. This will include, on average, 10,000 social housing units, 4,000 homes for Affordable Purchase, 2,000 Cost Rental homes and 17,000 private homes
- over the lifetime of the plan (to the end of 2030) the 300,000 required homes are expected to consist of: 90,000 social homes; 36,000 Affordable Purchase homes, 18,000 ‘Cost Rental’ homes and approximately 156,000 private homes
- the State land bank will provide land to bring forward up to 15,000 units and the State will fund local authorities for land acquisition. Each local authority has been given Housing Supply Targets
- a table of yearly targets, broken down by tenure type, is contained in the plan
- ‘Housing for All’ introduces ‘Cost Rental’, a new form of public housing in Ireland. This is targeted at people who are above the social housing income limits, and who wish to rent or are unable to buy their own home. Under this tenure rents charged only cover the cost of developing, financing, managing and maintaining the homes. It also offers long-term security of tenure. Cost Rental will be targeted to achieve rents that are at least 25% below what they would be on the private market. The government plans to provide an average of 2,000 Cost Rental homes per year during the lifetime of Housing for All. The first 25 Cost Rental units were delivered in Balbriggan, Co Dublin during Q3 2021
- the requirement in Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to provide 10% of the uplift in value of zoned residential land for social housing, has been increased to a mandatory 20% for social, affordable and cost rental housing requirements, of which at least half must be applied to social housing provision. These amendments were included in the Affordable Housing Act 2021 and commenced on 3 September 2021. Current planning permissions, and land purchased between 2015 and 2021 will continue at 10%, meaning that near term supply will not be affected by these changes. However, this will change in 2026 when the 20% will apply to all land. This approach is being taken as a balanced and fair way to allow supply to come forward at pace, while also ensuring that the State is getting as much benefit as possible for social and affordable purposes