Simon Harris and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien will today officially launch the first of the new homes at Shanganagh Castle Estate in Shankill, Co Dublin.
The new development, delivered by the Land Development Agency (LDA) and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLR), ahead of time and on budget, is the largest public housing project in years.
It is also the first of a pipeline of around 20 housing projects to be completed by the LDA on state-owned land and follows the completion of well over a thousand homes from a series of partnerships with other housebuilders.
The estate involves a total of 597 high-quality houses and apartments including affordable purchase, cost rental and social homes.
The new homes will be launched in phases. Phase one includes 51 affordable purchase houses, 195 cost rental apartments and 35 social apartments. Eligible buyers can apply to purchase the 51 houses on Wednesday 9th October, while the application portal for the 195 cost rental apartments will open later this year.
The 51 affordable purchase houses include 21 two-bed and 30 three-bed homes. The 195 cost rental apartments include 19 studios, 40 one-beds, 107 two-beds and 29 three-bed apartments. These will be made available alongside the social homes, which include 18 one-bed, eight two-bed, seven three-bed and two four-bed homes.
The remaining 316 homes, all of which are apartments, will be made available in two subsequent phases in 2025.
With the application of Government supports through equity contributions, prices for the affordable purchase homes will start at €334,600 while rents for the cost rental apartments will start from €1250.
The affordable purchase homes are being made available under the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme, which enables eligible buyers to bridge the gap between the price of the house and the amount of personal funds and maximum mortgage available to them.
The scheme, jointly run by the LDA and DLR, involves a shared equity arrangement, which effectively lowers the upfront cost and enables DLR to hold an equity interest in the property until it is repaid or the house is sold.
Intending purchasers of the affordable homes can apply online from 12 midday on Wednesday 9th October.
Taoiseach Simon Harris and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien will officially launch the new housing development and will be joined by Councillor Jim O’Leary, Cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, John Coleman, Chief Executive of the Land Development Agency, and Frank Curran, Chief Executive of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and Cormac O’Rourke, Chair of the LDA.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said: “I am delighted to be in Shanganagh to launch this fantastic housing development and particularly pleased to see the mix of high-quality affordable purchase, cost rental and social homes. The government is investing significantly in increasing the supply of affordable and social housing and it’s great to see this funding is being used to deliver not just new housing, but new facilities, amenities and ultimately new communities. As Taoiseach, housing is my number one priority and the delivery of affordable housing developments on State land like this is a testament to what we can achieve. This new development is superbly located and completed to the highest construction and environmental standards.I would like to congratulate the LDA and DLR on what has been achieved here and I look forward to visiting again to meet the new residents of Shanganagh Castle Estate.”
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said: “In November 2022 I had the pleasure of turning the sod on this momentous development. To be back here less than two years later officially launching the first of the homes for sale is just fantastic. To see what has been achieved in such as relatively short space of time is incredible. This is the first affordable housing development to be directly delivered by the LDA on state-owned land and it will soon be followed by many others. The LDA has already delivered a series of top quality affordable homes by partnering with developers under Project Tosaigh and considerable progress is now being made on state-owned sites, in partnership with DLR in this case. A greater supply of affordable housing is a key element of the government’s Housing for All plan and delivery is ramping up significantly. I would like to congratulate both the LDA and DLR as well as everyone involved in making this new housing development a reality.”
