Plan for €84m fund to build 1,770 affordable homes

The Government will today announce details of an €84m fund which it says will deliver 1,770 affordable homes in Cork and across the country.

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy will publish plans to develop 25 local authority projects in cities across the country including Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Wateford, Wexford and Wicklow.

The sites in Cork where the new development will take place include Middleton, Mallow, Clonakilty, and Carrigaline, the Irish Examiner has learned.

Despite a slow down in house price increases in light of economic uncertainty, the Government is still struggling to grapple with the accommodation crisis, with opposition TDs criticising the over-reliance on the private market to solve the problem.

The affordable homes will be delivered under the second tranche of his Serviced Sites Fund as part of a plan to deliver a total of 6,200 homes at a cost of €310m. Mr Murphy will announce the funding approval for 25 infrastructure projects across 13 local authority areas.

The Serviced Sites Fund has enabled the delivery of almost 3,200 affordable homes so far, the Government is claiming. Mr Murphy says this announcement will help young couples achieve their goal of becoming property owners.

“For too many people, homeownership still remains out of reach,” he said.

Unless the Government steps in to bridge the gap, young couples and workers may not be able to afford to buy their own home in our cities and large towns. That’s why we are using local authority land to build more affordable homes for young workers and couples.

The fund, which has a total of €310m available to support local authorities out to 2021, was established to provide key infrastructure, on public lands, to support the delivery of affordable homes to purchase or rent.

Latest reports have revealed a distinct slowdown in growth in the housing sector since the start of the year. Despite a clear need for more houses, this is not converting to actual sales.

Price drops have become commonplace in the second-hand market, especially in larger homes. Sales of properties of more than €500,000 have shown a 21% drop since January.

Fianna Fáil housing spokesman Darragh O’Brien criticised Mr Murphy and Fine Gael and said the plan set to be announced today was resisted by them when FF called for such an initiative during the budget talks.

“This was our idea which they strongly resisted,” he said. “While any move towards the delivery of affordable housing is welcome, Fine Gael seems to have set its face against a model which will work, instead of relying on house prices coming down.”