Target of delivering 4,100 affordable homes by end of year will be challenging, says Darragh O’Brien

It will be “challenging” to hit the Government’s target of delivering 4,100 affordable and cost-rental homes by the end of the year, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has said.

He spoke of the hurdles for reaching the target while saying he is confident that delivery target for 2022 of 24,600 homes of all kinds, including private and social housing, will be reached.

Mr O’Brien was speaking after the launch of 118 cost-rental homes in Dublin – 44 apartments at Parklands, Citywest and 74 at Kilcarbery Grange, Clondalkin – delivered by Tuath Housing, South Dublin County Council and other agencies.

Under the cost-rental system, rents are based on the cost of building, managing and maintaining the homes, and not market rates. Tenants also have long-term security, with leases running for several years available.

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There were a combined 1,047 applications for the 118 cost-rental homes across the two new locations in Dublin with successful tenants selected through a lottery system.

Rents range from €1,025 for a one-bed apartment at Kilcarbery to €1,297 for a two-bed duplex in Parklands.

Applications opened on Monday for another Tuath scheme in Newbridge, Co Kildare, where 50 homes are being advertised through daft.ie at up to 40 per cent below market values.

Tuath said there had been 368 applications so far as of Tuesday afternoon.

Mr O’Brien said cost-rental is a new kind of State-backed housing tenure that didn’t exist a year ago that offers affordable rents at 35 per cent below the market rate in the case of the two Dublin locations he was launching.

He said 900 new cost-rental homes have been approved for this year and into 2023, and he wants to see that expanded further.

The Government’s Housing for All plan sets a target of delivering 4,100 affordable homes – including cost-rentals – in 2022.

Asked if this target will be reached Mr O’Brien replied: “It will be challenging. There’s no question about that, and particularly around inflation and supply chain, but we’re still very focused on those targets for this year.”

He said there has been a “strong response” to the Government’s First Home Scheme, aimed at helping with affordability through a shared equity arrangement with the homeowner.

Mr O’Brien said he believes it will be a “game changer” for delivering affordable homes to purchase “for people who’ve been locked out of that market for 10-12 years”.

He said affordable home are also being delivered through local authorities, and the Land Development Agency is expected to provide affordable homes this year – in the case of the latter delivery stream mainly cost-rental.

“This is a year of delivery,” said Mr O’Brien. He added that there had been a decade of “underinvestment in housing which we’re playing catch up on”.

He said there had been two construction shutdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic but added of the overall target of 24,600 for housing delivery in 2022: “I’m confident we’re going to attain that.”

Prof Paddy Gray, the chairman of Tuath Housing, said cost-rental housing projects “offer moderate-income households the choice of a more affordable, long-term and stable form of rental tenure, with the added benefit that their rent will not be driven by price changes in the private rental market”.