Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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55. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide an update on the delivery of affordable homes in 2024. [24566/24]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The delivery of affordable homes to purchase and rent have been two of the most spectacular failures of the Minister's tenure. Last year, he missed his affordable housing targets by more than 60% and the year before by 50%. Increasingly, the homes he is delivering through the affordable purchase and cost-rental schemes are not affordable. Can the Minister give us an update on targets for this year for those two schemes, the progress with those targets and an indication of whether he will meet those targets by year's end?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Ó Broin. Affordable housing delivery for people to purchase and rent is an absolute priority of my mine and of this Government. We are making real progress there. As the Deputy knows, Housing for All sets out a range of actions necessary to increase the supply of housing output across the board but also, really importantly, sets forward a roadmap and plan to deliver 54,000 affordable homes by local authorities, approved housing bodies, the Land Development Agency and through the first home scheme, which is a groundbreaking scheme we brought forward. That is a strategic partnership between the State and the retail banks.

Through the implementation of Housing for All and the injection of record levels of investment with more than €5 billion available this year for the delivery of social and affordable housing in 2024, which is the highest level of housing investment in the history of the State, we are ramping up the social and affordable housing supply.

In 2023, more than 4,000 affordable housing supports have been delivered via our delivery partners, an output which has more than doubled from the previous year. It represents an increase of nearly 130% on 2022 activity. That highlights really significant progress to date. It is slightly below target but when this Government came in, there were no affordable homes being delivered. There had been none delivered for effectively a generation. Last year, there were more than 4,000.

As the Deputy knows, data for affordable housing delivery is published on my Department's website up to quarter 4 of 2023. It is currently being verified for quarter 1, which I expect my Department will be in a position to report on shortly. We have a securely laid foundation that will allow us to continue to ramp up the delivery this year and into next as the pipeline of affordable housing delivery is very strong.

In addition, I have asked my Department to prepare a revised affordable housing strategy to take account of the new housing targets later this year and bring forward additional affordable delivery as quickly as possible.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The figure of 4,000 affordable housing supports is deeply disingenuous because it gives the impression that last year, 4,000 households moved into 4,000 affordable homes. Of course, the Minister knows that is not true because of that 4,000, 2,000 are approvals of the first home scheme, and only about 1,000 of those resulted in purchases-----

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Not correct.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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-----and none of those homes are affordable. When we actually look at the schemes the Minister directly controls, that is, the delivery of cost rental by approved housing bodies and the Land Development Agency and affordable purchase homes by local authorities, it was about 1,500. That is the number the Minister delivered and increasingly, many of those are not affordable.

I have to hand a brochure from North County Homes. The Minister will know it well; it is from his own constituency. That lists all the so-called affordable purchase homes by Fingal County Council. However, when we look at the cost of these homes, both entry-level prices and full cost, they are eye-watering. Almost every single one of them is over €400,000 and some are over €500,000. Will the Minister address the question specifically with respect to the two schemes I asked about and the lack of affordability within those two schemes?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The facts are borne out by looking at the first-time buyer activity. We have more than 500 first-time buyers per week now drawing down mortgages and buying their homes using the very supports we have brought forward, namely, the first home and help-to-buy schemes, which the Deputy opposes and would scrap. He has put nothing forward that would replace them, only some loose leasehold arrangement that is sorely lacking in any detail.

I will give the Deputy a couple of examples. On affordable housing delivery through our local authorities, 4,135 purchase and cost-rental homes were approved over 21 local authorities through the fund we set up. With regard to the first home scheme, over 4,000 approvals were issued with the majority of them in areas where there are affordability challenges, such as counties Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. We have actually had to approve a further €40 million, which will be matched by the retail banks, because the first home scheme is going from strength to strength.

I have met and meet people regularly who have bought their homes using those supports. These are people who were stuck in a rental trap or who were in the box room who now own on their own homes because the Government supports are working. We want to ramp them up further.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Talking about approvals of homes that in many cases will not be built for one, two or three years ignores the point. The Minister promised to deliver in 2022 just over 2,000 genuinely affordable homes to rent or buy. He delivered half that number. Last year, he promised approximately 3,500 affordable homes to rent or buy. He missed his target by 60%. We might look at the prices from the Land Development Agency in my own constituency in Citywest. Entry-level rents for a one-bedroom unit cost €1,400 and for a three-bedroom unit, it is almost €1,800. That is more expensive than existing market rents for renters in that area.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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No, it is not.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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In Lusk, in the Minister's own constituency, the all-in cost for so-called affordable homes funded through his scheme is €565,000. My question is very simple. There are two schemes the Minister put in place and promised delivery of and on which he is failing. What are those two schemes going to deliver this year? What are the targets? What is the estimated delivery? Are they going to be genuinely affordable?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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First, Deputy Ó Broin is again trying to play with the facts that the all-in cost, as he said, includes the State subvention.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It does.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Sinn Féin has not published its housing plan. The Deputy said he will effectively-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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They cost €500,000.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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A Chathaoirligh Gníomhaigh-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is the all-in cost. The Minister just accepted it.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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This might be for the Deputy's Facebook or Twitter video. He might let me answer the question.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It is for the people who are looking for the affordable homes the Minister promised.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I project that we will deliver more than 6,000 affordable homes this year between all our various delivery streams. The Deputy wants to contend that is not progress from three years ago when there were zero, and then the number went up to 1,757 and to more than 4,00 last year. I am projecting that we will do more than 6,000 this year. They are 6,000-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Therefore, the Minister will meet his targets this year.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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There are 6,000 families and 6,000 homeowners-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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He will meet his targets this year is what the Minister is saying.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Le do thoil, Deputy.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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-----because this Government supports homeownership. I support homeownership and the Deputy does not. It is very clear because all of the measures-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is simply not true. Homeownership is falling.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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He wants the help-to-buy grant of €30,000 abolished and taken away from them.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Homeownership is falling and house prices are rising.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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He wants the first home scheme and vacancy grant abolished. There has been no housing plan whatsoever from Deputy Ó Broin, only some leasehold arrangements where people do not actually even own the land on which they buy their homes, or they are going to have to restrict to whom they sell the home.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Homeownership is falling and house prices are rising.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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There will be over 6,000 this year. It is real progress, Deputy Ó Broin.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Homeownership is falling and house prices are rising. That is the Minister's legacy.