A HOME OF YOUR OWN

A New Model of Public Housing

Sinn Féin in Government will deliver the most ambitious public housing programme in the history of the state. At the core of Sinn Féin’s social and affordable housing plan is a new model of public housing. This will focus on the delivery of a mix of small, mid, and large-scale residential developments, determined by housing need, site size and context. These would fully integrating social, affordable rental and affordable purchase homes.

This new model of public housing will combine a greater focus on mixed income housing with an appropriate needs-based volume of age friendly housing, housing for people with disabilities and wheelchair users and culturally appropriate homes for Travellers.

The Targets

We believe that it is possible to deliver at least 125,000 social and affordable homes over a full term of Government This would require an annual average of 25,000 social and affordable homes delivered by Local Authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, Community Housing Trusts, and those homes currently in the Land Development Agency pipeline.

The table below sets out Sinn Féin’s public housing targets over a full term of office. The first months in office would involve agreeing the public housing programme with Local Authorities and others and making the necessary changes to funding, procurement, and delivery streams to ramp up delivery in the first full year in office. These targets, as set out below, will be subject to agreement and revision with Local Authorities and other delivery agents based on the most up to date information at the time.

The Delivery Programme

Within six months of taking office Sinn Féin will agree and publish a five-year public housing delivery programme for each Local Authority. These will be published by the Department of Housing on their website as a consolidated delivery programme and individually on each Local Authority website. This delivery programme, in as far as possible, will set out in full detail the annual total number of social, affordable rental and affordable purchase homes to be delivered in each local authority area in each year from 2025 through to 2029.

This will include a breakdown of the delivery targets by Local Authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and Community Housing Trusts. It will also include a breakdown of the targets by delivery stream including: Direct Delivery, Design and Build, Part V and Turnkeys. The delivery programme will also identify existing land banks to be developed and land deficits that must be addressed to meet the targets. The delivery programme will be reviewed annually and where necessary updated.

Accelerating Delivery

Delivering such an ambitious public housing programme will require a radical transformation in planning, approval, and tendering processes. It will also require a fundamental shift in the existing roles and relationships between the Department of Housing and the Local Government sector. Under Sinn Féin’s public housing programme the Department will be responsible for policy development and oversight of expenditure. In turn greater responsibility will be devolved to Local Authorities for project management and delivery. This will require a radical reform of the Department of Housing’s Four Stage Approval Process to ensure efficiency without compromising accountability.

The Department of Housing will establish a single unit for engagement with Local Authorities on mixed tenure public housing projects. In order to remove duplication and delay Approved Housing Bodies principal point of contact will be the Local Authority rather than the Department.

Streamlining Delivery

Once a public housing development is included in a Local Authority’s five-year delivery programme it will automatically have Stage 1 approval and can proceed to planning. Local Authority, Approved Housing Bodies and Community Housing Trusts will process planning applications via Part 8 or standard planning process as appropriate. Design will be in accordance with the Standard Design Manual & Capital Appraisal Requirements.

An emergency planning facility will be available to Local Authorities for the delivery of a dedicated stream of smaller age friendly homes and housing for people in emergency accommodation on public land. This is part of our plan to reduce and ultimately end long term homelessness, the details of which are set out in Chapter Five. 

The Department of Housing will be a statutory consultee in the planning process for all public housing projects directly delivered by Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, submitting observations for consideration to the Local Authority. 

Once planning has been approved the Local Authority will prepare a detailed cost plan or approve a detailed cost plan submitted by an Approved Housing Body. This cost plan will operate within the Department of Housing Unit Cost Guides, which will be updated annually.

Where the Local Authority or Approved Housing Body is operating within the average cost ceiling as set out in the Unit Cost Guide, they will proceed with the development in accordance with the approved planning permission as approved by the Director of Housing.

Where the cost of the development, either at tender stage or during construction, is running above the average cost ceiling but in line with general construction sector inflation the Local Authority will engage with the Housing Delivery Office in the Local Government Management Association for advice, possible modification and sign off by the Chief Executive. This will be known as the yellow flag mechanism.

Where the cost of the development, either at tender stage or during construction is running above the average cost ceiling and above general construction sector inflation the Local Authority will engage the Department of Housing for advice, possible modification and sign off by Departments Housing Delivery unit. This will be known as the red flag mechanism.

The purpose of these three procedures is to avoid duplication and delay while ensuring proper management of public finances.

Streamlining Funding

In addition to streamlining the planning and approval process for public housing Sinn Féin would also reform the way public housing projects are funded. The current five principal funding streams for the delivery of social and affordable housing (SHIP, CALF, CAS, AHF & CREL) would be merged into a single Public Housing Fund. 

The amount of funding paid by the Department of Housing for each type of public housing project or for units within a mixed tenure development will continue to operate broadly on the same basis as is currently the case as set out below:

• Local Authority construction, Part V and Turnkey paid at 100%
• Approved Housing Body general needs construction, Part V and Turnkey paid at range of between 20% and 30%
• Approved Housing Body special needs construction, Part V and Turnkey paid at up to 100%
• Local Authority & Approved Housing Body affordable purchase paid at a range of between 20% and 33%
• Local Authority and Approved Housing Body cost rental paid at a range of between 30% and 55% 

The Public Housing Fund contribution for affordable purchase and cost rental will vary depending on land related costs as set out below. Funding will be provided on a multi annual basis, paid in instalments and in advance. Local Authorities will submit funding requests in advance on a rolling basis as per their five-year delivery programme.

Streamlining Procurement

The current practice of tendering for each individual construction project will be replaced with multi annual framework agreements. This would involve building contractors competing for places on panels of contractors to whom each job will then be allocated, subject to final agreement on price.

Local Authorities in consultation with Department of Housing and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will develop multi-annual agreements operating across nine regions. The regions are set out below.

One Local Authority will take the lead in overseeing the multi annual framework agreements on a shared service basis with their regional partner Councils. To ensure a maximum level of competition and to allow new entrants into the frameworks they will be broken into three tiers based on development size, small, medium, and large. There will be restrictions on the number of frameworks which any given contractor can be on to prevent larger contractors monopolising the contracts and then passing the work on to sub-contractors.

In addition, the multi-annual frameworks will not only apply to building contractors on public land Sinn Féin will also introduce the option for Local Authorities to enter multi annual framework agreements with private developers for Design and Build developments and Turnkey developments. Where multi annual frameworks are put in place for Turnkey developments, the Local Authority will have the option of providing the development finance for their portion of the scheme. This will assist in reducing the cost as a greater discount can be applied for multi-annual purchases. The state will not be paying the developers higher cost of finance. 

To ensure that these agreements do not have a negative impact on private supply, the developer will be asked to demonstrate that the framework agreement will result in a larger quantum of new homes ensuring not only increased social and affordable housing delivery but also increased private sector output on what would otherwise have been delivered in the absence of the agreement. 

Sinn Féin would also ensure the funding will cover both the acquisition and refurbishment costs where Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies are acquiring and refurbishing vacant and derelict properties.

Tackling Vacancy & Dereliction

Sinn Féin believes that the state must lead in tackling vacancy and dereliction. Making greater use of existing buildings makes social, economic, and environmental sense. The five-year public housing delivery programme will include an overall minimum percentage of all new public housing to come from vacant and derelict building stock.

Each individual Local Authority delivery programme will include the specific target for their functional area determined by local levels of vacancy and dereliction. The current Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant will continue to be available for the purchase of private vacant and derelict homes as part of the overall strategy to tackle vacancy and dereliction. 

The scheme will be improved by allowing for staged payments directly from the Local Authority to approved building contractors as work is undertaken subject to compliance with the Building Control Amendment Regulations and submission of appropriate certificates via the Building Control Management System. The affordable purchase eligibility criteria set out in this document will apply to this scheme.

New Building Technologies

In addition to greater use of vacant and derelict properties the Local Authorities five-year public housing delivery programme will proactively increase the use of new building technologies including 3D volumetric off-site manufactured building systems. Specific multi-annual framework agreements will be put in place for homes delivered using these low carbon building systems with annually increasing targets. This is to enable the emerging low carbon new building technology sector to develop their capacity during the lifetime of the delivery programme.

The first full year target will be the delivery of at least 1,000 homes using these systems. Subject to the outcome of the framework competition the objective will be to have an increasing percentage of all new public homes manufactured from low carbon building technologies each year of the delivery programme.

Turnkey Developments

Turnkey key developments, where Local Authorities or Approved Housing Bodies enter into forward purchase agreements with private developers will continue to be used under the proposed five-year public housing delivery programme. However, the current overreliance on the use of this delivery stream will be reduced so that by the end of the full five-year programme Turnkeys will form a smaller portion of overall public housing delivery.

Design and Build Developments

The five-year public housing delivery programme will recognise Design and Build as a distinct delivery mechanism. Design and Build involves a private builder-developer working with a Local Authority or Approved Housing Body on a development from the outset. Unlike Turnkey developments, a Design and Build Development would be intended from the outset to be for social and affordable housing.

Tenant-In-Situ & Second-Hand Acquisitions

Sinn Féin believes that meeting the need for social and affordable housing involves not just new build and renovation of vacant and derelict stock, but also the acquisition of second-hand properties and private rental properties with tenants-in-situ. Our five-year public housing delivery programme would seek to expand the social rental and cost rental tenant-in-situ schemes. It would also allow Local Authorities to purchase vacant one bed, four and five bed and disability adapted second hand properties as per the current rules.

The tenant-in-situ scheme would be reformed to speed up the decision-making process and purchase times. The requirement for the tenant to have received a notice of termination will be replaced with a letter from the landlord outlining an intention to sell. 

The cost rental tenant in situ scheme will also be reformed to make it easier to access by allowing prospective cost rental tenants to apply directly to the Housing Agency, rather than the Local Authority as is currently the case.

Sinn Féin would also require the Residential Tenancies Board to write to all tenants in receipt of evictions notices, setting out the various schemes available including the social and cost-rental tenant-in-situ schemes. Over five years Sinn Féin would fund the acquisition of 7,500 second hand homes. 1,000 of these would be vacant one bed, four bed and disability adapted properties for households in emergency accommodation or at risk of homelessness. 

The remaining 6,500 would be social and cost rental tenant-in-situ acquisitions. While tenant-in-situ is a demand led scheme, Sinn Féin believes that this demand will decline over time, as a result of the increased delivery of public housing, the reform of the private rental sector and the stabilisation of private house prices. Therefore, our funding commitment provides for 1,800 tenant-in-situ acquisitions in year one, declining by 250 a year to year five.

Long Term Leasing

Sinn Féin would immediately end the policy of long-term leasing for social housing delivery. This would mean that no new long-term leases would be entered into as part of our public housing programme.

Separately we would explore the feasibility of transferring the existing 11,000 long term leased stock into publicly owned social housing.

Community Housing Trusts

Sinn Féin’s public housing delivery programme will see a significant increase in delivery by Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies. We would also put Community Housing Trusts on a statutory footing. Such trusts, made up of individuals who qualify for public housing under the social and affordable criteria, could apply for long term leases on public land to deliver co-operative or self-organised architectural developments. The conditions attached to the use of the land would be the same as with other public housing projects. 

Credit Union lending

Sinn Féin would engage with Credit Unions, including public sector credit unions, to explore the feasibility of the sector providing development capital for the delivery of public housing.

Credit Union finance could be mobilised to finance the Community Housing Trust sector or public sector employers to deliver affordable housing on their own land, or general investment in the delivery of affordable rental and purchase homes.

Cultural Workers Housing and Studio Space Pilot Project

In Government Sinn Féin would develop a pilot programme in conjunction with Local Authorities and the Arts Council to deliver public housing with appropriate studio space for cultural workers. The scheme would be funded through the public housing capital programme with the same eligibility criteria for social and affordable housing. The homes would come with appropriate studio space suitable for a diverse range of cultural forms.

Increasing Part V

Sinn Féin in Government would continue to operate Part V of the Planning and Development Act to increase the delivery of social and affordable homes. We would introduce legislation within the first six months of taking office to increase the portion of a development to be covered by Part V to an amount up to 30% of the development as determined by local housing need.

Direct Labour Pilot Scheme 

Sinn Féin’s public housing delivery programme will be built in the main by private building contractors. However, in Government Sinn Féin would pilot the delivery of public housing through direct labour. The pilot would operate within a mid-size Council, aiming to deliver a portion of their public housing with tradespeople employed directly by the Council.

The purpose of the pilot would be to examine, in real time, the benefits of the use of directly employed labour within Councils to delivery public housing. The outcome of the pilot project would determine whether other Councils would adopt a similar approach in future years.

A Public Building Contractor

In Government Sinn Féin would support the four Dublin Local Authorities to establish a publicly owned building contractor. With funding from the Strategic Infrastructure Fund, such a company would operate in the commercial market, competing for public works contracts.

The value of such a company would be to ensure that profits generated from the building of public homes would be recycled back into the public housing budgets by way of dividends to the company’s shareholders, i.e., the four local authorities. Such a company could also play a positive role in ensuring meaningful competition, particularly for larger and more complex residential developments.

Tenant Empowerment and Participation

Sinn Féin is committed to ensuring that tenants in Local Authority and Approved Housing Bodies estates are provided with the opportunity to become active participants in the decisions about the management and development of the communities in which they live. Tenants are best placed to understand the needs and requirements of the built environment in which they live.

In Government Sinn Féin would fund a multi annual programme to ensure that tenants are supported to become active participants in local decision making. Starting on a pilot basis the programme would take a human rights-based approach to allow for meaningful tenant participation on issues such as but not exclusive to: estate regeneration, environmental management, estate management, and estate enhancement.

Longer Term Reforms

In addition to the immediate reforms of public housing delivery Sinn Féin believes that there is also a need for longer term strategic reviews of several key aspects of public housing provision. These include a review of the Approved Housing Body Sector and Public Housing funding.

Approved Housing Body Sector Review

Given the importance of the Approved Housing Body sector in the delivery of social and affordable housing in Government Sinn Féin would initiative a review of the sector the aim of which would be to develop a 20-year strategy. This would be done in partnership with the Approved Housing Body sector, their tenants, funders, and other relevant partners.

Public Housing Funding Review

The capital and current funding mechanisms for the delivery of social and affordable housing have developed from the 1930s to the present. There are very clear challenges, particularly for Local Authority social housing provision. 

In Government Sinn Féin would initiate a comprehensive review of all aspects of funding the delivery, management, and maintenance of public housing provision, building on the recommendations of the Housing Commission. The review would aim to make recommendations for the longer-term reform of public housing funding to ensure long term sustainability of the delivery of new housing stock and proper maintenance of existing housing stock.

Social Housing

Social Housing Eligibility

Currently social housing eligibility is based on net household income across three bands, adjusted for household size.

Sinn Féin does not support the existence of the third lowest band and would amend the eligibility bands as set out below.

The estimated cost of ending Band 3 on current expenditure would be in the region of €2.5m annually on HAP expenditure, using the same calculations used by the Department of Housing when they moved five counties from Band 3 to Band 2 in 2023.

We would also review the bands every two years to ensure that they are reflective of housing need.

Social Housing Delivery

There are currently close to 134,000 households in need of social housing, including those on Local Authority housing waiting lists, and those in the private rental sector subsidised through the Housing Assistance Payment and the Rental Accommodation Scheme.

While no official figure exists for the number of households who join the Council social housing lists each year a preliminary analysis of the Housing Agency’s Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2023 report suggests that the number could be in the region of 8,000 households. Tackling existing and emerging social housing need while ending long term homelessness and the need to sleep rough requires a level of ambition in setting targets.

Sinn Féin believes that at least 82,500 additional social homes can be delivered during a full term of Government. This would include: new builds, restoring vacant and derelict sites, acquisitions and utilising new build technologies.

In addition to the new build targets the table below sets out additional social housing delivered through acquisition.

The total combined new build, acquisition and lease to buy social housing targets are set out below.

The public housing delivery plan will also include clear targets for each Local Authority for the delivery of specific categories of social housing, to ensure that delivery matches need.

Improving Existing Housing Stock

Sinn Féin believes that public housing landlords must maintain their stock to the highest standards. The state, in particular, has a responsibility to ensure its tenants are living in homes that meet all legal standards. 

In Government we would increase funding for the maintenance of existing stock, the regeneration of older inner city flax complexes and the retrofitting of public homes to address both climate change and energy poverty.

Social Housing response maintenance 

Sinn Féin would require all Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to conduct periodic stock condition surveys with estimates for works required to bring properties up to appropriate standards. These surveys would inform an estimate of costs to address legacy issues within existing stock. An initial annual budget of €50million would be provided to begin addressing these legacy issues.

As part of the first round of stock condition surveys Sinn Féin would request the Department of Housing and the Housing Agency to undertake a review of all maintenance funding with a view to ensuring that adequate provision is made for stock maintenance from rents, exchequer funding and a portion of annual savings from HAP and RAS expenditure as reliance on social housing rent subsidies reduces as social housing output increases.

Inner City Flat Regeneration 

Within the first six months in Government Sinn Féin would agree an accelerated multi annual inner city flax complex regeneration programme. The current budget of €50m would be doubled to €100m a year for five years to insure an accelerated upgrading of older inner city flat complexes in Dublin City and Cork City.

HAP & RAS

In Government Sinn Féin would have, as a policy objective, the annual reduction in the use of private sector rent subsidies to meet social housing need. Subsidies such as HAP and RAS should be seen as temporary supports while waiting for real social housing provided by Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies. Our ambitious social housing programme would allow for year-on-year reductions in the number of such subsidies and their overall cost to the state.

It is not possible to provide a target for the annual reduction in HAP and RAS tenancies. However, it is possible to estimate the savings that would accrue from any such reduction. The average net cost of HAP tenancies (HAP payment to landlord minus tenants differential rent to Council) is €754pm or €9,048 per year. For every 1,000 tenants that move from HAP to real social housing an exchequer saving of €9,048,000 would accrue. 

The savings from a reduction of RAS tenancies would be slightly lower as RAS rents are typically lower than HAP rents. Any savings would have to be adjusted by possible increases in new HAP tenancies where tenants are availing of the discretionary increase (50% above the base rate in Dublin and 30% outside Dublin). Thus, if a reduction in overall HAP and RAS tenancies of the order of an average of 2,500 to 5,000 annually could be achieved that would result in a saving of €22.6m to €45.2m a year.

Social Housing Reform

In addition to delivering the most ambitious social housing programme in the history of the state, Sinn Féin in government would undertake a fundamental reform of social housing legislation.

In the first year of Government, we would introduce a Social Housing (Reform) General Scheme with the intention of having it passed and enacted within 12 months.

Among the issues to be addressed in the legislation would be:

• Redefining the legal definition of social housing as long-term homes provided by Councils, and AHBs.
• Redefining social housing supports such as HAP and RAS temporary housing supports.
• Merging all existing rental subsidies for households on social housing waiting lists into a single scheme, while maintaining Rent Supplement as a social protection support for households above the eligibility for social housing in need of short-term income support
• Providing for periodic reviews of social housing income eligibility thresholds.
• Introducing a Social Housing Passport to allow applicants to move from one housing list to another.
• Removing the prohibition on all pets from AHB tenancies and aligning their pet policy with the relevant Local Authority.
• Reviewing and reforming the tenant purchase scheme to bring in into line with the affordable purchase scheme to ensure that such properties are retained within the public housing stock.
• Ending the 12-month income assessment for social housing eligibility and replacing it with a six-month income assessment with flexibility for significant changes in personal circumstance.

Social Housing and the Residential Tenancies Board

Sinn Féin believes that all tenants should have access to the legal protections of the Residential Tenancies Act and the services of the Residential Tenancies Board. It is neither equitable nor sustainable for Local Authority social housing tenants to be excluded from these protections and services when private rental tenants, cost rental tenants and Approved Housing Body social tenants have access to the RTB.

In Government Sinn Féin will being a phased process of bringing all social housing tenancies under the remit of the Residential Tenancies Act and Residential Tenancies Board. The timeline for this phased approach will be agreed following consultation with the Residential Tenancies Board, the City and County Managers Association depending on available resources.

This will ensure that all tenants have the same rights irrespective of landlord and in turn Local Authorities will have the same access to RTB services on issues such as antisocial behaviour and breach of contract as private landlords and AHBs.

Affordable Housing

Defining Affordability

Sinn Féin believes that affordability with respect to housing costs must be defined against income. Social housing rents are set at a percentage of net disposable household income, ranging from 10% to 20% depending on the individual Local Authority differential rent scheme. Current cost rental schemes operated by Approved Housing Bodies and the Land Development Agency apply an affordability test of 33% of net disposable income. The Local Authority Home Loan has a 33% of net disposable income affordability criteria as part of their mortgage assessment.

Sinn Féin believes that for those on or below average incomes, housing costs in affordable cost rental should be no more than 33% of net income and less where possible, while mortgage costs in affordable purchase should be no more than 33% of net disposable income.

Making Cost Rental Affordable

Cost rental public housing is based on the principal that the rent paid covers the cost of delivering and maintaining the home over a set time period. In other European Countries this would typically be up to 60 years, after which the rent paid generates a surplus that is then reinvested in the public housing stock. Such long-term financing, coupled with the delivery of new build homes on public land by not-for-profit agencies would ensure that the cost rents are also affordable rent, i.e., no more than 33% of the take home pay of the renter.

Cost rental is intended for those whose incomes are above the threshold for social housing and who need medium to long term rental. Some cost rental tenants will rent for life. Others will rent while saving to buy an affordable purchase or private purchase home. Others will require cost rental on retirement.

The first generation of cost rental homes being delivered here by Approved Housing Bodies and the Land Development Agency deviate from the standard cost rental model in a number of ways. Firstly, delivery to date has been via forward purchase agreements with private sector developers. This means that all in development costs include layers of market pricing and profit taking that would ordinarily not be included in not-for-profit delivery models of cost rental.

Secondly rent setting mechanisms are based on a discount from equivalent new market rents not full cost recovery. Both AHBs and the LDA require entry level rents to be 25% below market rents and no more than 33% of the tenant’s net disposable income. Thus, high all-in development costs and high new private sector rents mean that a significant capital subsidy in the form of state equity (Cost Rental Equity Loan for the AHBs and Sustainable Tenancy Affordable Rent for the LDA and other operators) must be made to ensure the rent setting criteria are met.

However even with such a subsidy, as high as €150,000 per unit in some cases, entry level rents are only affordable under the schemes criteria for those at the upper limit of eligibility. In 2023, Government had to increase the upper eligibility limit to €66,000 net in Dublin and €59,000 net elsewhere to ensure they would have eligible applicants.

Initially cost rents for a two-bedroom property were being set at €1250 per month. However, overtime as all in development costs increased rents for two-bedroom properties have edged up beyond €1400 per month and in some schemes are approaching €1600 per month. While this may be 25% below new market rents, it is higher than market rents for existing renters. 

There is also a growing cohort of people who are not eligible for social housing but also deemed ineligible for cost rental because the rent would be more than 33% of their take home pay. Significantly no cost rental has been delivered to date in Dublin City where all in development costs, particularly in the private development sector, are highest.

A recent LDA cost rental scheme, purchased from Cairn Homes in City West, in the suburbs of Dublin highlights the worrying upward trend of cost rents. The table below sets out the rents:

The social housing eligibility thresholds in this area range from a net income of €40,000 for a single person to a net income €45,000 for a couple with three children. As entry level cost rents continue to rise a growing number of households will be left ineligible for the very form of housing that was intended to meet their needs.

Can cost rents be brought down?

The straight answer is yes, there are several policy measures that would bring cost rents down. The first is a shift from the current 40-year financing model available to Approved Housing Bodies (30 years fixed at a low rate and final 10 years variable) to a 60-year fixed rate financing model. Such long-term finance could be provided at low fixed interest rates it would significantly ease the level of entry level rents.

This could be achieved in a number of ways:

• Through securing 60-year fixed rate market finance via the National Treasury Management Agency. 
• Through refinancing the existing 30-year Housing Finance Agency fixed rate finance at the same or a similar interest rate. Where such refinancing involved a higher rate for the second 30 years Government could put in place a contingency fund for Local Authorities and Approved Housing bodies to fund the rate difference without impacting on rents. This would be repayable by the Local Authorities or Approved Housing Bodies once the principal loans were paid down in full,
• Increasing the level of capital subsidy, depending on the scheme to reduce the overall level of borrowing, and resulting interest. 
• Shifting from the purchase of expensive private sector developments in favour of not-for-profit developments by Local Authorities and Approved Housing bodies on public lands and the use of Part V for cost rental.
• Greater use of new building technologies at scale.
• Allowing larger Local Authorities such as in Dublin to form a single cost rental delivery body to achieve economies of scale, efficiencies in procurement and reduce development risk and in turn financing costs.

The combination of the above policies would reduce development and finance costs in turn allowing for reductions in entry level cost rents, making them more affordable.

Delivering Affordable Cost Rental 

In Government Sinn Féin would seek to mobilise all of these policy levers to ensure that costs rents were affordable rents and that all eligible households would be able to access cost rental schemes at or below 33% of their net disposable income. This would involve seeking to bring cost rents down to an average of €1,000 per month and if possible, even lower.

Cost rental homes would be delivered by Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies with the Housing Agency operating a centralised portal through which all cost rental tenancies are advertised in addition to being advertised on the web sites of individual social housing landlords. The household income limit eligibility criteria for affordable cost rental would remain at €66,000 of net income in Dublin and €59,000 outside of Dublin.  This would be reviewed annually.

In Government Sinn Féin would reform the affordable cost rental scheme to make is easier to operate and to ensure genuine affordability. Both Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies would operate the same financing and rent setting model as set out below:

• The Department of Housing would provide a Public Housing Fund contribution to cover all costs related to land. This would include land acquisition, site servicing and utility connections. Development levies would be waived. The level of contribution would also be set at a rate to ensure genuinely affordability. The payment would range between 30% and 55% of the all-in development cost whether new build or acquisition, allowing variance for more expensive and less expensive developments.
• Where Approved Housing Bodies access the Public Housing Fund for the delivery of cost rental homes the state would retain ownership of the land and lease it out free of charge in perpetuity to the social landlord on condition that the homes remain cost rental. Any change to the status of the homes would require the consent of the Local Authority.
• The Local Authority and the Approved Housing Bodies would continue to borrow the remainder of the financing from the Housing Finance Agency, the European Investment Bank or other low-cost lender.
• While currently interest rates for public housing providers typically range between 3.3% and 3.75% fixed for 30 years with an assumed 5% rate the final 10 years, The Department of Housing working with the NTMA would attempt to secure longer term finance as already set out.
• Management and maintenance costs would be set at an average of 25% of rental income.
• Local Authorities and Approved Housing bodies would, over the five -year housing plan, shift from higher cost turnkey purchases to lower cost own development on public land and Part V developments. 
• Such developments would increasingly use new building technologies which, as they reach economies of scale, would result in reduced construction and development costs.
• The Department of Housing would work with the four Dublin Local Authorities to develop a single cost rental delivery vehicle to achieve economies of scale, efficiencies in procurement as well as lowering risk, while delivering low cost finance.

Below are a number of indicative examples based on the most recent all-in development cost details for a range of public housing projects delivered in 2023 as set out by the Minister for Housing in Parliamentary Question’s on 3rd of January 2024 and 20th March 2024.

They demonstrate what can be achieved with the right combination of longer-term low interest finance, lower land costs and a greater focus on direct delivery over turnkey purchases.

These scenarios are based on average costs including one, two and three bed properties in lower and higher cost sites and locations. They demonstrate that with longer term finance and lower all-in development costs rents can be brought down significantly from current cost rents delivered by AHBs and the LDA. Even in the most expensive development cost scenario involving higher cost turnkey developments, lower rents are achievable. 

However, as all in development costs move beyond €350,000 the level of Public Housing Fund contribution becomes prohibitively expensive. While this may be appropriate in a small number of developments, it would not be sustainable for large volumes of affordable cost rental on an ongoing basis. 

Across the range of development types, the Public Housing Fund contribution will vary in order to maintain the entry level rent at a genuinely affordable level. The average Public Housing Fund contribution is expected to be €150,000 per home.

Affordable Purchase

Sinn Féin believes that it is both possible and necessary to deliver homes at prices that working people can actually afford. This means selling homes to eligible purchasers at prices between €250,000 and €300,000 depending on size and location. This price range would be kept under periodic review and adjusted as appropriate based on factors including the movement of wages, construction sector inflation and interest rates.

The purchaser would own the home, have the same rights as private purchasers to alter the property and the right to pass the property on to their children and subsequent generations. The affordable purchase price is achieved by separating the cost of land and site servicing from the cost of building the home, with additional criteria to ensure affordability. In essence under Sinn Féin’s affordable purchase scheme the state pays for all land related costs and retains ownership of the land. 

According to the Society of Chartered Surveyors Real Cost of New Housing Delivery 2023, land related costs including siteworks and development, utility connections, land, land finance range from 29% of all in development costs in the Greater Dublin Area to 25% in the Northwest Region.

According to the Department of Housing (PQ 322, 30/1/2024) public housing on public land has varying land costs from “no cost to land purchased at market value” cost. And land costs on Part V homes is valued at existing use rather than market value.

This means that the cost of land across developments will vary depending on whether the development is delivered on existing public land, newly purchased public land, Part V discounted land or Turnkey market value land. Sinn Féin estimates that the per unit cost of the Public Housing Fund contribution to cover all land related costs will range from 20% to 33% of all in development costs. The level of contribution would also be set at a rate to ensure affordability. Development levies, estimated at 1% of all in development costs by the Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland, will also be waived.

Initial eligibility criteria for the scheme will be up to a gross household income limit of €90,000, reviewed annually. The scheme will be open to all applicants who neither own a home at the time of purchase or whose savings and access to mortgage finance would be insufficient to purchase a home on the open market.

Mortgage finance would be accessed under the existing rules from commercial mortgage providers, Credit Unions or Local Authority mortgages, the details of which would be provided following consultation with these lenders.

The purchaser buys the home, at or near the full cost of construction. The purchaser is given free indefinite use of the public land subject to a legally binding covenant providing them, their children and subsequent generations free indefinite use of the public land subject to two primary conditions.

These conditions which relate to the onward sale and use of the property are necessary to ensure protection of the wider taxpayers’ interests, which is important given the significant size of the public subsidy involved, and the imperative of ensuring a supply of affordable homes into the future. 

The property cannot be rented out in the private rental sector. This condition is necessary to guard against exploitation of the scheme designed to promote owner occupation by would be investors. If the owner has to live elsewhere for an extended period for work or family reasons, then the property can be rented out temporarily as part of the local authorities cost-rental scheme. 

If the owner sells the property, they will be obliged under the term of the covenant to sell it to another eligible affordable purchaser at the future affordable purchase price determined by factors, such as wage inflation and home improvements. 

Where no affordable purchaser is forthcoming the Local Authority will have the first option to purchase the property for social or cost rental homes. Where no such need exists, the property may be sold on the open market subject to the agreement of the Local Authority, with the owner receiving the future affordable purchase price and the Local Authority recouping any additional gain.

Other conditions relating to responsibility for structural repair, issues of accessing nursing home schemes such as Fair Deal will also be provided for in the scheme.

The benefit of affordable leasehold purchase approach is twofold. Firstly, it reduces the initial purchase price of the home. Secondly it ensures permanent affordability for subsequent buyers. The aim, over time, is to create a market of privately owned, privately traded and permanently affordable homes. This market will be separate from and parallel to the private for purchase market.

Below are a number of scenarios based on average all in delivery costs for public housing in 2023 provided by the Minister for Housing by way of Parliamentary Question (PQ  322 30/1/24 & PQ 11684 20/3/24). As more up to date information on all in cost of public homes becomes available from the Department of Housing the level of Public Housing Fund contribution will be adjusted accordingly. 

These scenarios are based on average costs including one, two and three bed properties in lower and higher cost sites and locations. The minimum gross household income of the purchaser is based on the current central bank mortgage lending rules.

Across the range of development types, the Public Housing Fund contribution will vary depending on the land and site related costs and the affordability objectives of Government policy. We estimate the Public Housing Fund contribution, based on the most up to date information from the Department of Housing, would range from €65,000 to €145,000 per home, with an average cost of €100,000 per home.

The Cost of Sinn Féin’s Public Housing Programme

The full cost of Sinn Féin’s public housing programme over five years, adjusted for inflation, would be €39bn. This includes a total cost of €37bn for the new build programme and €2bn for the acquisitions programme.

This would be provided for through €25.3bn in voted capital expenditure from the exchequer and €13.7bn in non-voted expenditure compromising of loans from the Housing Finance Agency and other sources. The annual average expenditure would be €7.8bn of which an average of €5.1bn would be from the exchequer and €2.7bn would be borrowing from the HFA and others.

The basis of Sinn Féin’s calculations are the most up to date costings from the Department of Housing and Department of Children on social, affordable, and modular housing delivery, adjusted for inflation. The average Public Housing Fund contribution of €103,000 per affordable purchase homes and an average Public Housing Fund contribution of €155,000 per affordable cost rental home.