One in five new homes must be social or affordable under proposed laws

A FIFTH of all residential developments will be required to be social and affordable housing, under proposed new legislation.

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is reintroducing laws requiring developers to dedicate 10pc of new homes under construction to affordable housing.

At present, they are only required to provide 10pc of residential sites to social housing.

However, the new legislation will mean all developments will now have to be 10pc social and 10pc affordable.

Mr O’Brien is expected to bring changes to Part V of the

Planning and Development Act 2000 before Cabinet in the coming weeks.

Under the new legislation there will be a flat 20pc requirement for social and affordable housing for every local authority. However, councils will not have to take 20pc of units, but instead can take the equivalent value on a lower number of units. This means they can get greater discounts on units to reduce the price.

“This new delivery stream will also help to build mixedincome communities and directly assist people who are above social housing income thresholds but are struggling to buy their own home,” a Government source said.

The minister will meet stakeholders over the coming weeks to agree arrangements on the status of land that has already been bought and zoned for development to ensure the new changes do not disrupt existing supply.

He will also look at introducing a sunset clause on any such arrangements to encourage development.

Considered

Meanwhile, the Oireachtas Housing Committee will be told today that local authorities are “best placed” to assess the demand for affordable housing.

In its opening statement, the County and City Management Association (CCMA) will tell the committee that affordable housing targets need to be “very carefully considered” by the Department of Housing.

“The CCMA is of the opinion that local authorities are best placed to assess the level of demand for affordable housing in their functional areas,” the association stated.

“Therefore, any target setting for delivery of affordable housing needs to be very carefully considered by the department and local authorities.”

In Budget 2021, the Government promised 12,750 new homes would be added to the stock of social housing through build, targeted acquisition and long-term leasing.

However, the State is unlikely to meet its targets after months of construction site closures.

The committee will also hear local authorities have around 2,000 unsold homes, totalling €350m, due to “legacy issues” pre-2011.

“While all these dwellings are currently occupied as social housing units these legacy issues require resolution,” the CCMA writes.

It will appear before the committee as part of pre-legislative scrutiny of the Affordable Housing Bill.

While the association welcomed the cost rental measures of the bill, it said that “consideration” is needed as how to best fund the purchase of land for the building of affordable and social housing.