Rebuilding Ireland - About the plan

Designed to accelerate housing supply in this country, Rebuilding Ireland is tackling our country’s housing shortage. This action-driven plan will result in a dramatic increase in the delivery of homes nationwide. Ambitious and imaginative in its reach, and radical in its approach, this plan will address the needs of homeless people and families in emergency accommodation, accelerate the provision of social housing, deliver more housing, utilise vacant homes and improve the rental sector.

A significant priority for the Government, this innovative and future-facing plan of action ranges across financing measures, better use of existing homes, new construction and rental sector improvements, while effective methods for delivering on the plan’s stated ambitions will also be refined.   VIEW THE PLAN

The Five Pillars

The Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness includes a comprehensive Five Pillar approach – these pillars are the foundations upon which we will build our plan. They are open to debate, additions and amendments, but for now they will be our starting point for immediate action.

Pillar One:

Address Homelessness.

Providing an urgent response to the homeless crisis, Pillar One focuses on taking immediate action to help those on the streets and those in emergency accommodation, including families in hotels.

Additional healthcare and support services will be provided to address addiction and mental health, as well as many of the other underlying issues that can trigger or prolong homelessness. A “whole of Government” approach will be taken to address this challenge, with the co-ordination of inter-agency supports for people who are currently homeless.

To address the unacceptable level of families in emergency accommodation, including hotels, this core pillar of the Action Plan will provide early solutions and an increase in the level of housing made available, including new innovative solutions such as rapid build housing and acquisition of vacant private properties by the Housing Agency.

A key objective is identifying people at risk of losing their homes and to support their efforts to remain in them, with particular emphasis on tenancy sustainment and supporting those in mortgage arrears.  READ MORE

Pillar Two:

Accelerate Social Housing.

Over the period of the plan, 50,000 homes will be delivered under the various social housing programmes, together with an expansion of the Housing Assistance Payment scheme nationwide.

This delivery will be achieved through collaboration between local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) and the private sector. It will involve new innovative approaches such as 1,500 rapid build homes, 1,600 homes acquired by the Housing Agency through a dedicated new fund and a new vehicle which the NTMA will work with the private sector to establish to provide such housing off the Government balance sheet and mixed developments on State lands.

The focus on collaborated delivery will also be a feature of supporting initiatives such as a special Housing Delivery Office in the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government (DHPCLG) drawing on a range of expertise within the public sector, as well as the establishment in the Housing Agency of a centre of procurement excellence and a one-stop shop for AHBs.

Championing excellence and high standards in housing provision is a key element of achieving wider planning and environmental aims, in all areas, urban and rural. The plan will introduce a new biennial Social Housing Delivery Awards competition organised in conjunction with local authority, tenant, housing and built environment professional organisations.  READ MORE

Pillar Three:

Build More Homes.

Rebuilding Ireland’s third pillar will focus on improving the viability of housing construction, with the objective of doubling the completion level of additional homes in the next four years to deliver over 25,000 homes on average per annum.

A €200 million Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) will provide much-needed enabling infrastructure on key sites to open up lands for early development, greatly enhancing existing measures in relation to construction growth, and many of the new initiatives under Rebuilding Ireland.

In addition to the large-scale off-site infrastructure to be funded under the LIHAF, the NTMA, through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), is developing proposals to offer competitive financing on a commercial basis, and in line with ISIF’s statutory mandate, to meet other infrastructure requirements on large development sites.

A key objective of this plan will be ramping up the production of additional new housing stock in regional cities with a balanced approach between providing housing that is built for owner occupation as well as housing for both the private and social housing sectors that is “built to rent”.    READ MORE

Pillar Four:

Improve the Rental Sector.

Improving the functioning of the rental sector to include affordable renting plus stimulating and expanding the build-to-rent sector.

Rental housing, because of its flexibility, enables the housing market to adapt to the changing needs of the population. Almost one fifth of our population now lives in rented accommodation.

A vast improvement in how the country’s rental sector works is essential. Rental prices have increased by almost 20% since early 2012. The focus will be on addressing the obstacles to greater private rented sector delivery and improving the supply of homes at affordable rents.

Achieving this goal will include the implementation of affordable renting initiatives as well as encouraging build-to-rent developments, including expansion of the supply of student accommodation.

The plan commits to developing a strategy for a viable and sustainable rental sector by the end of the year, with early legislative actions brought forward in the autumn to govern tenancy terminations, particularly where a landlord proposes to sell a large number of homes within a development. This strategy was published on 13 December, 2016.  READ MORE

Pillar Five:

Utilise Existing Housing.

Ensuring the existing housing stock is used to the maximum degree possible – focus on measures to use vacant stock and to renew urban and rural areas.

Introducing an integrated plan to bring vacant and under-utilised housing stock back into use for both private and social housing purposes.

A planned investment of €70 million by the Housing Agency to acquire 1,600 vacant properties, particularly from portfolios for sale from financial institutions and investors for social housing purposes. As of 30 June 2018, the Agency had bids accepted on 645 properties. Contracts have been signed for 454 units and 404 of these purchases have closed. The process of selling properties on to Approved Housing Bodies is underway.

A new repair and leasing initiative will be piloted by Waterford City and County Council and Carlow County Council, with a view to nationwide application. This will allow for grants to be provided to prospective landlords to bring properties up to standard, where they are entering cost effective leases for social and affordable housing. This scheme is now available nationwide.

We will remove existing barriers to the quick conversion and re-use of vacant or under-utilised city and town centre commercial premises for residential purposes and support wider urban regeneration, with new measures to be brought forward by the end of 2016.  READ MORE

Source : Rebuilding Ireland