State’s affordable housing agency to sell more homes to private market at full price

The State’s affordable housing agency would be allowed to deliver more homes for private sale at full market prices under planned legislation to be progressed later this year. The proposed changes to the rules would allow for up to 30 per cent of homes in Land Development Agency (LDA) projects on State land in places with large populations such as Dublin and Cork to be sold on the private market.It is understood that part of the reason for the change in larger towns is to provide better tenure mix of housing kinds – social, affordable and private – in communities created by the developments.Another reason is an intention to recycle the proceeds of private sales to build more public and private homes elsewhere.READ MOREThe LDA is a State body tasked with delivering affordable housing on State land, so the plans could prove contentious. [ The developers ready to build thousands of new homes ]“Being able to provide more homes, faster, and doing so with a tenure-mix across all home types is essential,” a Government source said.Under existing rules four-fifths of the homes in LDA projects in towns that have populations of more than 150,000 people must be cost rental, social or affordable housing. For smaller towns the proportion for the same housing types in LDA developments is 50 per cent.However, these rules are in addition to the Part V social housing requirement in planning laws that requires 20 per cent of developments to be social or affordable housing. In effect the rules for LDA developments mean that 100 per cent of dwellings built on relevant public land in Dublin and Cork must be cost-rental, social or affordable. Minister for Housing James Browne intends to amend the rules so the 50 per cent proportion would apply everywhere.When combined with Part V requirements, this in effect means 70 per cent of the homes in LDA developments would still have to be cost rental, social or affordable. The move is in line with the housing tenure mix the LDA is allowed to deliver in smaller towns.Ultimately the proposal is to be included in planned legislation to expand the scope of the LDA to assist in the delivery of housing. Browne is to bring the proposal forward in the next Dáil term. The proposal, and other measures such as increasing the LDA’s compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers, are expected to be included in a memo on the planned legislation due to go to Cabinet this week. Meanwhile, the planned legislation would also allow the LDA to operate in areas with population of more than 10,000, reduced from the present threshold of places with more than 30,000 people.There is to be a move to give Government the power to direct commercial State bodies to dispose of land to the LDA.Public lands under half a hectare will not have to be offered for sale to the LDA as these sites will not be suitable for larger-scale development of the kind the agency is focused on. Another proposal is to expand the LDA’s CPO powers to enable these to be used for additional specific purposes to enable the delivery of housing and mixed-use developments and to enable LDA involvement in urban development zones.