Less than one-third of cost rental housing target to be met this year

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien set aside €35m to secure 390 homes to be rented out at 25% below market rates; just 115 of these will be delivered this year

Housing Minister, Darragh O'Brien pictured in July at the launch of the country's first cost-rental homes in Balbriggan, Co Dublin. Picture: Corporate Photographers Dublin

Fewer than a third of the 390 cost rental homes promised will be delivered this year, casting doubt over the Government's projections for next year.

In February, Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien announced a €35m fund to secure 390 new homes to be rented out to families and individuals for at least 25% below market prices.

However, just 115 of these homes will now be delivered before the end of the year.

Sinn Féin housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin has questioned Government promises to provide 750 cost rental units in 2022, as this year's target is set to be missed by such a margin.

He said the cost rental model only works when local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHB) build homes, which is not happening.

"The principal of cost rental is you don't buy a house on the open market because that's not cost rental, that's private housing.

"The idea is you build it and the rent is charged whatever it costs to build and maintain over a 40, 50, 60 year period, that's the rent. So giving AHBs money to buy market houses, and then try to reverse engineer with cost rental is not the right way to do it."

He added that this year's targets were missed because AHBs had been forced to buy on the open market, which resulted in these bodies purchasing homes that have yet to be built.

"Because the Approved Housing Bodies ended up buying unbuilt stock, that meant that they were never going to deliver the 390 units this year.

Deliverability

"So what they've now done is they have a cost rental target for next year of 750 units, 250 of those are the ones that were meant to be delivered this year but won't come on stream until next year. There's another 500 extra next year on top of the carry-over. The question is if they couldn't deliver 390 in year one, how are they going to deliver another 500 next year?"

Mr O'Brien said the first of this year's cost rental houses were delivered by Clúid at Taylor Hill in Ballbriggan, Dublin with the tenants moving into their new homes at the end of August.

He said rents on the 25 properties are averaging 38% below comparable open market prices in the area, ranging from €935 per month for a two-bed terraced house to €1,150 for a four-bed detached house.

"A further 50 cost rental apartments are due for completion shortly at Enniskerry Road, for which tenancy applications have already been accepted," Mr Brien said in response to a parliamentary question.