The Housing Agency have welcomed the release of Budget 2018
Speaking after the announcement of budget 2018 about the housing sector, The Housing Agency’s CEO John O’Connor said,
Overall Housing Budget Allocation
“We welcome today’s budget announcement with the significant increases in funding for housing and related infrastructure.”
Social Housing Delivery and Homelessness Allocation
“The provision of a further €500 million for direct building of an additional 3,000 new build social houses by 2021 is much needed; as is the funding of €116m to address homelessness.”
“The continued support and increase of funding to the housing assistance payment (HAP), which has proved to be effective in providing housing support and preventing homelessness, is critically important.”
“Infrastructure investment, through LIHAF is welcome as we need to continue to invest in infrastructure to support our future housing requirements.”
Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI)
“The setting up of Home Building Finance Ireland with a €750 million fund for housing development will make a difference. This will assist in providing much needed funding to support housing development. The target should be to support home builders in delivering housing and brining empty properties back into use.”
Affordable Housing
“The reintroduction of affordable housing both to rent and buy is very important. The initial allocation of €25m coupled with the use of local authority and state land can be an effective approach to provide affordable homes for those who cannot afford to rent or buy on the open market.”
Mortgage to Rent Scheme
“The increase to €22m of funding for the expansion of the Mortgage to Rent Scheme will allow many more households to remain in the homes.”
“We need to continue our focus on helping households in mortgage arrears.”
Taxation and Site Levies
“The changes to capital gains tax and the site levels will get land owners focused on making use of their land for housing delivery.”
“Tax reliefs for work on vacant homes to encourage owners to get them back into use is the type of initiative that the Housing Agency fully supports. We need to incentivise and support owners of these properties to get these vacant houses occupied again.”
