Housing Ireland 2023: Thoughts on cost rental
At the Housing Ireland 2023 conference, public and private sector housing experts gave their opinions on the Government’s new cost rental scheme.
Bob Jordan, The Housing Agency:
“The cost rental sector is a new tenure which will provide secure homes below market value rent. The rent will cover the cost of construction and management of the building, which will remove the profit motive. We are aiming to see 18,000 funded by 2030.”
“There are already 585 cost rental homes in place (as of 10 March 2023) and 550 are scheduled for delivery. This is a very important tenure; the majority of people entering homelessness are doing so from rental properties and so they need a new affordable model which can shield them from the worst dangers.”
Larry O’Connell, National Economic and Social Council:
“The cost rental model is promising as, in current circumstances, there is no sense in renting in the long term. What is clear is that we are going to need to make a lot of tweaks to the current system if we are going to implement this cost rental model, which can potentially give us strong outcomes, but will require significant investment as it is an expensive project.”
John Coleman, Land Development Agency:
“For cost rental to be affordable in any way, we have to look closely at the costs. The current delivery costs are so high that the whole model is being stretched very thin.”
Sorcha Edwards, Housing Europe:
“There is still a need for much more exchange of ideas between the member states of the European Union. The cost rental model is a rare example of new solutions being used to solve crises, and it is a model which is being used in Ireland, Portugal, and Germany.
“Recognition of the upfront cost is the biggest challenge in implementing a new tenure in Ireland. There is also an initial barrier in looking beyond the viability of the individual project and looking more to the social viability and the long-term impact of having more affordable housing.
“It is a misnomer to differentiate the various terms such as cost rental housing, affordable housing, general interest housing, etc. What is termed co-operative housing in Switzerland is actually cost rental housing. It is all about providing affordable housing in which the profit motive is not a factor.”
Áine Stapleton, Social Housing Delivery:
“There is huge value in moving away from the monotenure model. There needs to be maximised levers if we are to develop the cost rental sector. We also need to ensure that there is a thriving private rented sector in rural Ireland.”
Robert Nicholson, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage:
“Intertwined with cost rental is the target of 5,400 affordable homes. To have such a target shows the amount of progress which is being made, and what can be achieved when we have strong levels of collaboration between the public and private sectors.”
