101. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures being considered to increase the number of affordable-to-buy housing units provided by local councils. [69263/26]

102. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the plans to increase the number of cost-rental units that will be provided in schemes by local authorities. [69265/26]

The question I have for the Minister is about increasing the number of affordable housing units that can be bought and provided by local authorities. We need that affordable housing scheme. Deputies have referred to people who are working hard. I have them coming to me; I suppose all TDs and councillors have people coming to them. We need to get housing solutions for these people who cannot get on a local authority housing waiting list because of the income threshold, and who cannot obtain a loan from a private lending institution. We need to fix this problem.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 101 and 102 together.

I thank Deputy Stanley for his questions on the increase in the number of affordable-to-buy housing units provided by local authorities, and plans to increase the number of cost-rental units that will be provided in schemes by local authorities as well.

Providing affordable and high-quality homes for purchase and long-term rental is at the centre of the Government's housing policy and our housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. The housing plan reinforces and expands the range of existing affordable housing measures being implemented by the Government. In particular, a new starter homes programme, which is a central component of the plan, aims to deliver an average of 15,000 affordable housing supports annually to 2030, including starter purchase homes and cost-rental homes. To underpin the delivery of the starter homes programme, the Government is investing an unprecedented level of funding by way of a package of direct Exchequer-funded affordability measures, additional investment through the Land Development Agency and lending by the Housing Finance Agency.

In terms of delivery, starter purchase homes and cost-rental homes are being delivered at scale across the country, in partnership with the local authorities and the Land Development Agency and the approved housing bodies. It is through this ambitious network of partnership that the Government was able to deliver almost 9,300 starter purchase and cost-rental homes in 2025, and is on target to exceed this in 2026. Total Exchequer capital investment in starter homes in 2025 was just over €1 billion, with a further €1.2 billion available this year. This is a huge level of investment.

To support the delivery of starter homes by local authorities specifically, the affordable housing fund is open to applications and available to support all local authorities to deliver starter purchase and cost-rental homes in their local area. The affordable housing fund subsidy is also available as a direct subvention on local authority housing development costs, at rates of €50,000, €75,000 and €100,000 per starter purchase home, depending on the density of housing units per hectare on the development and its location. In addition, a higher rate of affordable housing fund subsidy of €150,000 per home is available to support the delivery of cost-rental homes in the five cities. Some 95% of the approved subsidy is met from Exchequer funds via the affordable housing fund scheme, and the remaining 5% subsidy is paid by the local authority concerned from its own funds.

To date, funding of over €766 million has been approved from the affordable housing fund and its precursor, the serviced sites fund, for 27 local authorities to support the delivery of over 8,400 affordable purchase and cost-rental homes. This includes the approval of 30 starter purchase homes in the Deputy's own county of Laois, with all of these homes to be delivered by the end of 2026. Overall, from 2022 until the end of quarter 1 of 2026, over 3,100 local authority starter purchase and cost-rental homes had been delivered. The local authority starter home delivery programme continues to expand as new opportunities for affordable housing delivery are identified and developed. To further support the expansion of starter home delivery nationwide, since the beginning of 2026, Roscommon, Cavan, Donegal and Tipperary have received approvals to deliver their first local authority starter purchase home schemes. The approvals support the commitment under the programme for Government, and action 7.5 in Delivering Homes, Building Communities, to work with local authorities to bring forward affordable housing fund proposals in areas that do not currently have projects in place.

In addition to Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030, local authorities have commenced the updating of their housing delivery action plans for review by my Department, setting out how the starter homes programme will be implemented within their area. Each housing delivery action plan will be informed by identifiable affordable housing needs within the local authority area and will include the collaboration with its delivery partners, including the Land Development Agency and the approved housing bodies, as applicable. These plans will be completed and published by local authorities later in the year. They will help determine what is needed and help drive delivery out to the end of the decade. Furthermore, measures such as the first home scheme, the help to buy scheme, vacant property refurbishment grants and ready-to-build schemes are also available.

I submitted two separate questions. There are significant differences between the affordable-to-buy homes and the cost-rental homes. I ask that we take them separately.

We have grouped the questions together but we are dealing with the content of both questions.

The median price of a house in Laois has gone up. According to the property price register, it has gone up 16.8% in one year. The Minister gave out a lot of figures, but the reality is that the target given by his Department, which I have here, is 38 affordable-to-buy and cost-rental homes to be done in Laois over a five-year period. It is minuscule and would not even make a dent in the numbers that we need. The demand is massive. Laois County Council directly delivered over 90 homes. The Minister was down at the launch of some of them. There are 62 more in the pipeline. The Minister was at the launch of Dargan Woods, which are good houses.

I want to raise a point about that. The scheme needs to be expanded to meet the demands of households whose incomes are over the threshold for social housing but do not qualify for or cannot get a mortgage. These workers and households are the real squeezed middle, typically trapped in private rented accommodation and paying sky-high rents. I gave the Minister the median price. There was an increase of 16.8%. In Laois, one-, two- and three-bedroom homes now cost €348,000. The scheme needs to be expanded.

This is not about being parochial. The Minister attended the launch of Dargan Woods. Due to the way the scheme was advertised, people could apply from anywhere. People moved from Dublin to cost-rental accommodation in Dargan Woods. They are now commuting to Dublin. Some local workers who work in County Laois applied but did not get in first and missed out. They are unable to get a house in the locality. We need to reduce commuting times and get people to live where they are working. Not to be parochial, but we need to open the schemes to people in the county in the first instance. I ask that the Minister's Department consider that.

I again thank the Deputy for his important questions on affordable homes to buy and cost-rental units. As he knows, Laois has an excellent record of delivering homes. It is one of the stronger counties. It is benefiting from taking the lead in delivering homes. It will benefit in the medium and long term economically as well as enjoy the key benefit of providing roofs over people's heads. I wish every local authority would deliver homes at the rate of Laois. Nonetheless, we know we have an awful lot more to do. We need to work harder in collaboration with Laois because people in the county continue to be under pressure to get a housing solution for their needs.

I very much hear the concerns, proposals and ideas of the Deputy. We want to ensure that everybody can access a home they can afford, be that social, affordable or private delivery. It is important that people are able to stay in their local communities. The Deputy referred to people commuting. I want people to be able to stay in their local communities. That is why, for example, we are changing the rules for rural one-off housing. The Deputy provided examples of people living in towns because they cannot live in the rural areas where they grew up and where their families are, and drive to work on farms or to look after their family. I acknowledge that we have more work to do, but we are making significant changes and differences and will continue to work on that.

The Minister saw the good-quality houses in Dargan Woods. The council exceeded the Government's target by nearly 250%. The Government needs to increase its targets for both affordable and cost-rental housing. There have been a huge number of inquiries. Cost rental is the only option for a lot of workers and households. People aged in their 40s, 50s and 60s may have broken relationships or be separated. They cannot get a loan due to their age and do not qualify for a council house because of their income. Low-paid workers in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are above the limit but are unable to get a mortgage to buy a home need to be helped with cost rental. We cannot condemn them to a full lifetime, including their pension years, in private rental accommodation. That is not fair in a balanced society.

Some of us advocated for the cost-rental scheme ten years ago when it was not on the radar. Others have come to it now, which I welcome. It removes the profit element and is a sustainable model. The finance is repaid and there is no long-term hit for the State. It is a good scheme and provides good-quality housing. People will say many such units are apartments or small houses. I lived in a 56 sq. m house. It was fine. It did the job for the 12 years I lived in it. People refer to small houses in Drimnagh, Cabra or wherever else. We do not want to go backwards. Modern houses can be compact and still meet people's needs.

We need to provide affordable and cost-rental housing at scale. That is the message I am trying to convey. The Government needs to increase its targets. It also needs to reduce prices. The Government needs to dust down the Kelly report, or produce another report, and implement it in order to reduce land costs and bring down the price of housing.

I hear the Deputy's concerns for his constituents in being able to have a housing solution they can afford. He is correct; we need multiple housing solutions for people. People of a certain age will not be able to get or will find it extremely difficult to get a mortgage, even with the mortgage supports available because repayment times are squeezed as people get older, repayments go up and it becomes harder and harder to get a mortgage. I very much hear the concerns of the Deputy for his constituents. We will continue to work to ensure those solutions are put in place in every constituency. People need to be able to stay in their local communities.