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Coveney Announces Plans to Fast Track Delivery of 30,000 Homes as part of Rebuilding Ireland Initiative

Ø Details of Major Urban Housing Development Sites announced
Ø Sites can deliver up to 30,000 homes over next 3-4 years
Ø Housing Delivery Office to trouble shoot where required
Ø Planning bill to be completed by the end of the year


Mr. Simon Coveney T.D., Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, today (10th November) announced fast-track delivery arrangements for 30,000 new homes in major urban centres in Dublin, Cork and other urban locations around the country.
The Minister was speaking at the launch of Pillar 3 - Building More Homes – under the Government’s “Rebuilding Ireland – an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness”.
Since launching the overall Action Plan on 19 July last, the Minister has revealed more detailed actions under Pillar 1 (Addressing Homelessness) and Pillar 2 (Increasing Social Housing provision) with today’s event focusing on the broader issue of housing supply. Minister Coveney is joined by Minister of State, Damien English.
Rebuilding Ireland sets ambitious targets to double the annual level of residential construction to 25,000 homes and deliver 47,000 units of social housing in the period to 2021, while at the same time making the best use of the existing housing stock and laying the foundations for a more vibrant and responsive private rented sector.
Speaking at the event in Dublin, the Minister stated that:
“Today we are setting out how, with housing providers, we intend to kick-start badly needed additional supply. A key element is the identification of Major Urban Housing Development Sites with the potential to deliver up to 30,000 additional homes, in great locations on existing zoned lands and close to the key areas of demand over the next 3-4 years with even more potential for another 30,000 homes on those lands or a total of 60,000 homes in the long term. The initiatives being announced today are part of a drive to upscale the pace of delivery in the places that people need homes most. These sites are in some cases already serviced by major infrastructure but often need additional investment and co-ordination to get them started. Therefore I have placed the Housing Delivery Office within my Department at the disposal of the relevant local authorities and development interests to trouble-shoot as needed on these and other sites, a process that is already underway as today’s event will hear”.

Major Urban Housing Delivery Sites
Local Authority Location Envisaged medium term housing yieldx Envisaged Total Housing Yield
Dublin City Council § North Lotts & Grand Canal Dock SDZ
§ Poolbeg West SDZ
§ Residential Lands Initiative (RLI) Sites at (1) Oscar Traynor Road, (2) O’Devaney Gardens and (3) St. Teresa’s Gardens and environs
§ North City Fringe* 1000

1500
2000



1200 1000 +

3000
2100



7000
Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council § Kiltiernan-Glenamuck LAP
§ Cherrywood SDZ
§ Shanganagh- Woodbrook LAP 1000
2000
1500 2000
8000
2300
Fingal County Council § Hansfield SDZ
§ Donabate LAP
§ Oldtown-Mooretown LAP
§ North City Fringe* 1000
1500
1500
800 2500
2200
3200
1500
South Dublin County § Adamstown SDZ
§ Clonburris SDZ
§ Corkagh 2500
2000
1000 7400
8000
1000
Cork City Council § Cork Docklands
§ Old Whitechurch Road 600
600 1000+
600
Cork County Council § Midleton
§ Ballincollig 1500
2000 2500
4000
Limerick City & County Council § Greenpark, Limerick 700 700
Galway City Council § Ardaun ( subject to progress on LAP) 500 500+

Future Sites
§ Work on-going to identify further locations within the other major urban centres and the Greater Dublin Area Circa 3000
X Envisaged medium term yield subject to market conditions , developer programmers etc
The Minister added:
“If we are to achieve two of the core objectives of the Action Plan – increasing supply to a minimum of 25,000 homes per annum and providing the 47,000 social homes committed to, we must speed up the processes that lead to housing delivery and we must make it more efficient to deliver the homes that people need and where they need them. For my part, I have made a number of changes to the planning system to speed up the processes and reduce building costs, with more coming under fast track planning legislation published this week and I have made funding available under Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (€200m) and in Rebuilding Ireland I have set out a series of actions to ensure the restoration of a functioning housing supply system. Today is a very good start by identifying the sites with the greatest potential for development and both I and the Government now want to see developers getting on with building the homes that people need”.
To recap, today’s event will hear about arrangements in relation to:
Ø Housing Delivery Office – programme management of strategic sites

Ø Further Planning Reform – new fast track planning approvals Bill 100+ units being dealt with in an integrated one-stop-shop way by Bord Pleanála in conjunction with relevant local authorities and community participation;

Ø Streamlining of local authority “Part 8” approvals process

Ø “Help to Buy Rebate” to convert theoretical to realisable demand

The Minister also stated that:

“The lack of supply of homes is central to wider problems in the housing sector. To put it in its simplest terms current supply is half of what’s needed even before you factor in pent up demand. Lack of supply is driving up prices, increasing rents, which in turn influences homelessness. Lack of supply puts severe pressure on young families, job seekers and workers, not to mention the impacts on the wider economy and the implications for foreign direct investment that we need to continue and broaden our economic recovery. For all those reasons and more the conditions must be created for supply to increase as quickly as we possibly can. Under Pillar 3, the Government has brought about huge policy, legislative and investment initiatives to create those conditions and enable supply of affordable, high quality and well located homes that will create sustainable places and communities. I now believe the time is ripe for the development sector and housing providers to respond with the housing supply that people need and today’s event will hear about those plans from some of the biggest housing providers in the State.



ENDS
#RebuildingIreland
@RebuildingIrl
Note for Editors
Some of the main commitments under Pillar 3:
· Doubling of output to deliver over 25,000 units per annum on average over the period of the Plan [2017-2021], aided by

Ø Opening up land supply and low-cost State lands
Ø Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) - €200m
Ø NTMA financing of large-scale “on-site” infrastructure for developers, complementing LIHAF
Ø Prioritising large pathfinder sites in key urban locations to release housing more quickly
Ø Planning reforms – large housing development applications to go directly to the Board, new streamlined Part 8 process, on-line planning facilities
Ø Putting in place a National Planning Framework and land management actions – multi-tenure developments on State lands.
Ø Efficient design and delivery methods to lower housing
delivery costs
Ø Measures to support construction innovation and skills

The Minister also highlighted some of the actions that have already been achieved in advance of today’s launch.
Ø New streamlined Part V
Ø Reductions in Development Contributions/Development Contribution Rebate Scheme
Ø Streamlining of statutory guidance on planning for and delivering apartment developments
Ø Vacant Site Levy
Ø Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (€200m)