Housing for All E-Zine October 2023
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
News & updates from the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage
Welcome to this month's edition of the Housing for All E-zine which brings you all the news and progress on Housing for All, the Government's housing plan to 2030.
Record housing completions in first nine months of 2023
The latest quarterly data published?by the CSO on 25 October shows that the strong momentum in housebuilding is continuing as?a record number of new homes were completed in the first nine months of 2023.
The data on housing completions for Q3 2023 shows:
Unprecedented housing budget package of €5.1bn announced
The budget announced on 10 September included a?record €5.1bn capital investment in housing for 2024 - made up of €2.6bn exchequer funding, €978m Land Development Agency and €1.5bn Housing Finance Agency funding.
This huge investment reflects the importance placed on Housing for All?and the continued emphasis on delivering more?affordable homes for purchase and rent.
Budget 2024-Housing highlights:
Affordable Housing
More than €760 million in direct affordability and home ownership funding to support initiatives such as Cost Rental, the First Home Scheme, the Affordable Housing Fund, the Secure Tenancy Affordable Rental investment scheme and the Help-to-Buy initiative.?
Homelessness
€242 million funding for?homeless services. This will ensure local authorities can provide emergency accommodation, help prevent households entering into emergency accommodation and support those in emergency accommodation to exit into secure tenancies as quickly as possible.
Social Housing
Funding of €1.86bn to support the delivery of social homes by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies under the Local Authority Housing, Capital Advance Leasing Facility and Capital Assistance Scheme schemes.?
Rental Supports
Up to 10,200 new households will have their housing needs met under the Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Scheme, as well as continuing support for over 74,000 existing tenancies under these schemes.
More affordable homes to buy and rent become available
A central pillar of Housing for All is to significantly increase the volume of new homes to buy or rent at below market rates. New?local authority?affordable purchase and cost rental schemes have recently opened for applications in Waterford, Dublin and Limerick.
23,923 homes commenced in first nine months of 2023
On 19 October, monthly data on the number of Commencements Notices (residential construction starts) for September 2023 was published.?
The data shows:??
1,047 new homes to be delivered?following?€275m funding from Housing Finance Agency?
The Housing Finance Agency (HFA) which provides finance to help the delivery of social and affordable housing, recently made two significant funding announcements.?
Finance Bill introduces range of new measures to further develop housing market
On 19 September, Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath published the Finance Bill. The Bill?implements the taxation changes announced in the budget?and introduces administrative and technical?changes to the tax code. There were several housing-related aspects announced.?
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This income tax incentive measure designed to assist first-time buyers with the deposit required to purchase or self-build, a new house or apartment has been?extended for a further year until December 2025.
The Rent Tax Credit has been increased to €750 for the tax years 2024 and 2025. This is a non-refundable tax credit for renters in tenancies registered with the Residential Tenancies Board.
The Vacant Homes Tax, introduced last year to help increase the supply of residential properties has been increased?from three to five times a property’s existing base Local Property Tax liability.
A new tax relief to encourage landlords to keep their properties in the rental market was introduced.?To receive the benefit of the tax relief,?landlords must commit to letting their property until 2027.?
Government announces Cabinet approval for Planning and Development Bill 2023
The government announced approval by Cabinet of the new Planning and Development Bill 2023 on 3 October.?
The Bill is the third largest in the history of the State and is the culmination of a 15-month review of the planning system, an extensive pre-legislative scrutiny process, and detailed drafting with input from across a number of government departments.
The Bill, if enacted, will?
Tackling vacancy and dereliction to bring homes back into use
One of the key pathways of Housing for All is to tackle vacancy and dereliction in order to bring disused homes back into occupancy.?
This video showcases a fascinating streetscape renovation project in the heart of Carlow town. It demonstrates how local authorities with?Government support are bringing existing housing stock back into use in order?to increase the supply of homes available while also breathing new life into town centres.?
The project in this video is supported through the?Social Housing Investment Programme and will provide homes to those on the local authority housing list.?
Forum to boost participation in construction workforce
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris? last week hosted an annual?forum?with experts in the?construction?sector aimed at boosting participation in the?construction?workforce.?
The?Construction?Sector?Skills?Forum?(CSSF) was the first of what will be an annual event to raise awareness and share ideas across the?construction?sector to ensure Government reaches its targets under Housing for All.?
Temporary Time Limited Development Contribution Waiver and Uisce éireann standard connection charge Refunds Scheme
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are reminding builders and developers that they can avail of a new package of housing support measures to incentivise the commencement of housing developments and help reduce housing construction costs. These measures include the (i) Temporary Time Limited Waiver of Development Contributions and; (ii) refund of Uisce éireann Standard Connection Charges associated with these housing developments.
This temporary refund Scheme applies to permitted residential developments as set out in Circular PL 04/2023, that -
The Housing for All webpage contains information on the plan, including a detailed outline of the objectives and actions under each of the plan's pathways.
Quarterly progress reports set out performance to-date against the targets and actions set out in the plan in a clear and comprehensible way.