Extra measures to speed up home building to be considered by Cabinet

The Government will on Tuesday seek to agree on a new set of measures to incentivise developers to build homes and reduce the costs involved in construction, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has said.

Mr O’Brien, speaking to reporters in Dublin on Saturday morning ahead of a Fianna Fáil party conference on housing, said he would bring a proposal to Cabinet to expand the Croí Cónaithe scheme.

Under the scheme, a grant of up to €30,000 is available for the refurbishment of vacant properties for occupation as a principal private residence, with a top-up grant of up to €20,000 available where the property is derelict.

Properties considered for inclusion must be vacant for two years or more and built before 1993.

Number of vacant and derelict homes brought back into use for social housing fell last year

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“We want to use a lot of the vacant stock and get that back into use for households and families to live in,” said Mr O’Brien. “There has been a very strong response to the Croí Cónaithe vacancy grant which I launched last year.

“We’ve had more than 1,500 applications from every local authority area right across the country and so far nearly 600 approvals. That’s a grant of up to €30,000 for a vacant property and €50,000 for a derelict.

“In the coming days we’ll be looking to make some quite significant changes to that. I am going to allow properties up to 2007 to get into the scheme, and we are also looking at increasing the grant amounts that are there.

“Homes that are not in use are the best homes to get back into use. We have seen strong demand and interest in this scheme from households, many of whom are renting and need that extra assistance financially to be able to buy that home.”

Mr O’Brien said there would be other proposals discussed to “bridge the viability gap” for developers between building costs and delivery of homes.

“I will be bringing proposals to Cabinet on Tuesday around how we can reduce some costs within the sector, particularly focused on some dormant or paused planning permissions and how we can get them moving,” he said.

“We have seen very significant inflation with the cost of materials and labour inflation, so it’s a number of things. I am focused on what measures could we take to further increase supply.

“If we can provide a greater incentive financially for people – because I am aware that the cost of construction materials and labour has increased – I will be looking for some additional finance for that. I would be hopeful we will see an increase with regard to that.

“We have got to look at all costs, but I am not going to be specific ahead of the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

“I have been engaging with the AHB (approved housing bodies) sector in particular. Cost rental has ramped up but I would like to see that go further.”

On the Government’s controversial decision not to extend the moratorium on evictions at the end of last month, Mr O’Brien said it was the right decision.

“I have always said the moratorium was going to be brought in on a temporary basis to provide us with additional space to provide additional accommodation, and we did that quite substantially,” he said.

“The figures from the RTB (Residential Tenancies Board) were no surprise. They were what we projected in November. It is the right decision in the medium and long-term.

“What Government has to do is take a responsible decision and position. Our clear view is that if we had extended the moratorium it would have made a difficult situation worse.”