Tipperary council plans to offer first affordable housing schemes in over a decade

Tipperary County Council is looking into offering a number of affordable housing schemes for the first time in over a decade.

Details about the schemes for the so-called “squeezed middle” income people who earn too much to qualify for social housing but not enough to buy a home in the private housing market, were outlined to the local authority’s councillors at their latest monthly meeting.

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Council Housing Department Administrative Officer, Shane Grogan, gave a presentation that described the affordable housing schemes the council is considering rolling out:

The Affordable Housing Scheme (formerly the Serviced Sites Fund) is targeted at providing infrastructure that will facilitate affordable housing on local authority lands but is not limited to only the cost of servicing of sites for housing.

Mr Grogan said the Department of Housing is considering an application from the council for funding from the Affordable House Fund (AHF) to introducing affordable housing options in Clonmel, Thurles and Nenagh, the towns that meet population criteria and are designated as “Key Towns” in the Regional Spatial Economic Strategy.

The Affordable Dwelling Contribution Scheme is divided into the First Homes Scheme and Shared Equity Scheme.

First Homes is where the Government provides financial assistance to first home buyers and those qualifying under the “Fresh Start” principle, towards the price of purchasing a house on the open market. The First Start principle refers to those who previously owned a home but no longer do so due to personal circumstances ranging from bankruptcy to divorce.

The loan bridges the gap between the purchase price and the amount the house purchaser can raise through mortgage. The loan will be up to 30% of the purchase price, which is subject to a house price ceiling of €250,000 for Tipperary.

The Shared Equity Scheme is where the local authority takes an “affordable dwelling equity” interest of between 5% and 40% in new build homes sold at a discount from the full market value to eligible applicants.

The Cost Rental Model is an affordable rental scheme where an affordable housing body or local authority provides rental accommodation to low or middle income earners who don’t qualify for social housing. The applicant household’s net income must not exceed €53,000. The rent charged must be a minimum of 25% below market rents.

The Part V Scheme has been extended to require private housing developers to set aside up to 20 per cent of new housing estates of five or more homes for social (10%) and where required 10% affordable housing.

The Croí Cónaithe Fund Scheme applies to empty buildings within a town and some villages. It offers a grant of up to €30,000 and an extra €20,000 is available where an engineer certifies the building as derelict or dangerous.

You must live in the building as your primary residence for at least 10 years. This scheme is being promoted by the council’s Vacant Homes Officer Tony O’Neill.

Ready To Build Scheme is where the council develops serviced sites on property it controls or has purchased in selected towns and villages with populations of more than 400 people.

The council makes the sites available to first time home buyers, people who qualify under the Fresh Start principle to purchase for building a home. The sites are available at a discount of up to €30,000 on their market value.

Mr Grogan outlined that subject to securing access to the Affordable Housing Fund, the council plans to submit a minimum of one site for Affordable Housing Funding next year and to actively engage with developers and the public to encourage uptake of the First Homes Scheme.

The council has made representations to the Department of Housing to secure an increase of the €250,000 housing price cap in Tipperary as it considers the cap too low.

It also plans to develop a pilot Ready to Build serviced sites scheme in a rural area.

Cllr Kieran Bourke (FF) welcomed the proposals but confessed he didn’t know how much of take up there would be for the house purchase schemes as people were finding it difficult to get mortgage approval due to the savings requirement which was becoming a bigger issue due to the cost of living crisis.

Cllr Pat English(WUAG) expressed concern that the income thresholds to qualify for these schemes were very low. If two people worked in a household, they would be over the income threshold in no time.

Director of Housing Sinead Carr responded that there had been “absolutely” no affordable housing scheme available for the cohort of people that needed them for well over a decade.

The introduction of these schemes was therefore welcome.

“As a local authority, I don’t think it would be appropriate if we didn’t try and roll out a number of these schemes.”

Ms Carr said there will be an initial expression of interest process for the affordable housing schemes that will give the council the basis to go forward. The local authority will only be able to increase its staff once it gets funding from the AHF.