First cost-rental schemes for south Dublin available soon

South Dublin tenants struggling to afford rents in the private market will soon have the opportunity to apply for homes in two cost-rental developments, with rents 30 per cent below market rates.

The schemes at Kilcarbery in Clondalkin and City West are the first of their kind in south Dublin and represent the largest number of cost-rental homes available to date, with 118 apartments and duplexes between the two sites.

Under the cost-rental system, rents are based on the cost of building, managing and maintaining the homes, and not market rates. Tenants also have long-term security, with leases of several years duration available.

The scheme is aimed at workers who earn too much to qualify for social housing supports but who cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market, and is open to households with a net income of up to €53,000 a year.

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Housing association Tuath will be offering the one-bedroom apartments at Kilcarbery at approximately €1,000 a month with two-bedroom apartments expected to cost around €1,200. In City West, two-bedroom apartments will also be priced around the €1,200 mark with two-bed duplexes slightly more expensive at just under €1,300.

“When you say the rents out loud, it still makes me draw breath a bit, but unfortunately those are the costs of the [construction] market,” Tuath chief executive Seán O’Connor said. “The rents are about one-third less than what you would pay for a similar apartment in the area.”

Both schemes are due to be available for tenants by April, with the larger development of 74 apartments at Kilcarbery expected to be completed slightly ahead of the 44 duplexes and apartments at City West.

The State’s first cost-rental scheme, 25 homes in Balbriggan, Dublin, provided by housing association Clúid, opened in July 2021 and within one week more than 1,000 people had applied.

‘Vastly oversubscribed’

Tuath, in partnership with Respond, later in 2021 opened applications for 50 cost rental apartments at Enniskerry Road in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area, a scheme which was also "vastly oversubscribed", Mr O'Connor said.

“You can predict similar for Kilcarbery and City West. People will be invited to express their interest and apply. Those who are eligible will go into a computerised draw. The computer will produce a list, and will work through the list.”

While social housing is likely to remain “the core of Tuath’s business for the next decade”, Mr O’Connor said he envisages an increasing role for the association in catering for those “caught in the affordability trap”.

“Increasingly, Tuath is at the forefront of arguing that there is a large part of society caught in this really horrible affordability trap and they are middle earners. They couldn’t afford to buy and now they can’t afford to rent either,” he said.

“Clearly, people stuck in this middle ground, who can’t access a social housing waiting list , increasingly they are going to become a more important sector that needs to be catered for.”

Tuath has made submissions to the Department of Housing for further cost-rental developments and hopes to provide 200 more homes by the end of this year, Mr O’Connor said.

“We see our role as an association is to play our part in providing homes, and cost rental is somewhere we can play a significant part.”