Minister for Housing James Browne will brief the Cabinet this morning on the long-awaited National Housing Plan which is to be entitled ‘Delivering Homes, Building Communities’ and will be published tomorrow.
The strategy seeks to deliver 300,000 homes, including 90,000 starter homes, over the next five years.
It is understood that Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has agreed to provide €2.5 billion to the Land Development Agency (LDA) to deliver 14,000 homes by 2029.
The LDA was constituted to support more acquisition of private land to deliver private housing, and find additional strategic public land sites.
If approved by the Cabinet, the new funding could be drawn down immediately, and would bring the total LDA budget up to €8.75 billion.
Minister Browne’s National Housing Plan is expected to place a big focus on ending child and family homelessness, including a plan to inject more than €100 million next year to house families who are on the housing list the longest.
If approved by the Cabinet, the new funding could be drawn down immediately
The plan, which is months overdue, is also expected to send out a signal of a stable policy landscape, and it is hoped this will contribute to increased private sector investment in homes and apartments.
It is anticipated that the Housing Plan will include much greater use of compulsory purchase orders by local authorities to deal with derelict properties.
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Other expected commitments include a target that 20,000 homes will be brought back into use supported by the Vacant Refurbishment Grant, and an Expert Advice Grant to support bringing more homes and vacant shop spaces back into use as homes.
Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin has warned that this plan “must be more ambitious” than its predecessor, particularly when it comes to increased funding, targets and delivery of social and affordable homes.
He called for greater protections for renters from rising rents and eviction, and what he called “clear, measurable targets to end long-term homelessness by 2030”.
The Dublin Mid-West TD said the Housing Plan needed to include a suite of activation measures for small and medium enterprise builders/developers to deliver homes for workers to buy.
He said there also had to be increased staffing for both planning authorities and planning courts in order to speed-up decisions and judgments.