COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, December 13, 2021

QUESTION NO.

QUESTION: Councillor Carly Bailey

To ask the Chief Executive to outline the four stage process to seek approval and funding from the Department of Housing in relation to social and/or affordable housing and to confirm if this is particularly onerous on local authorities when compared to the fast tracking application process in place for private developers (SHDs)?

REPLY:

The four-stage approval process for local authorities to get funding approval from the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage (DHLGH) for social housing construction projects involves the following stages:

Stage 1 – Capital Appraisal to establish the business case for the project;

Stage 2 – Brief pre-planning developed design and cost check;

Stage 3 – Pre-tender cost check;

Stage 4 – Tender approval.

(There is also a single stage approval process for local authority social housing construction projects with total costs of up to €6m.)

Separately, DHLGH also provide funding support for affordable purchase and/or cost rental accommodation delivered by local authorities through the Affordable Housing Fund.  This process, which is separate to the four-stage approval process outlined above for social housing involves the submission of proposals for funding that are assessed and marked under the specific criteria below to determine the appropriate level of funding:

• Demonstrable local affordability challenge;
• Minimum number of 10 dwellings in a development;
• Location within an urban settlement area or strategically important city or town with of 10,000+ or a key town in Regional Spatial & Economic Strategies;
• Residential Density and Layout requirements;
• Within stipulated unit cost ceilings;
• Affordability gain of minimum 15% discount on open market values for affordable purchase or minimum 25% discount for cost rental with AHF funding; and
• Inclusion requirements of minimum of 5% of dwellings reserved for older people or people with disabilities or members of minority groups (e.g. the Traveller community.

While at present mixed tenure housing developments must separately apply for funding from DHLGH for social housing projects and affordable (purchase/cost rental projects, a working group is reviewing the processes invovled to develop a combined mixed tenure approval process.)

These approval processes outlined above are for funding of projects whcih will separately have to apply for planning permission.

The "fast tracking" process for strategic housing developments relates to the process of applying to An Bord Pleanála for planning permission for housing developments of one hundred or more homes with timelines and stages stipulated by legislation and which is not in any way comparable to the funding processes outlined above.  It involves the following steps:

• Pre-application Consultation(s) with the Planning Authority and An Bord Pleanala
• Lodgement of the SHD application to An Bord Pleanála. 
• Submissions and observations by the public, prescribed authorities & the Planning Authority report to An Bord Pleanála.   
• Decision of An Bord Pleanála within 16 weeks of formal application.