merrion street

The Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Simon Coveney TD, today (26 August 2016) announced that he has issued a Call for Proposals to local authorities under the €200m Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF).
The funding is part of the programme of investment under Rebuilding Ireland: An Action Plan for Housing & Homelessness, published by the Government on 19 July 2016. It will target investment in enabling infrastructure to activate large housing development areas to deliver additional supply of social and private housing. The Call for Proposals outlines the general approach to the operation of LIHAF, including a broad template for funding proposals and assessment framework. LIHAF will be funded through €150m in Exchequer funding, matched by €50m in local authority funding, and will operate over the period 2017-2019.

In making the announcement, Minister Simon Coveney said: “This is a key element under the third Pillar ‘Build More Homes’ of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan in order to support the delivery of critical infrastructure to accelerate the supply of social and private housing. LIHAF has the potential to release the delivery of at least 15,000 to 20,000 new homes, which would otherwise not be delivered.”

LIHAF funding is aimed at (but not restricted to) enabling off-site infrastructure such as access (e.g. distributor roads, bridges, pedestrian/cyclist facilities), environmental improvements (e.g. site remediation, surface water management, utility diversion), and community and amenity facilities (e.g. parks, sports/recreational facilities). For the purposes of LIHAF, off-site infrastructure is defined as infrastructure that would normally fall to the local authority to provide in its infrastructure delivery role or which would straddle a number of individual development sites, requiring a cross-developer/land owner funding solution.

The Minister added, “Today I am issuing a call for proposals to local authorities under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund which will help improve the economic viability of the new housing projects, by moving key sites from inactivity and slow release to active and accelerated delivery of homes. I would urge local authorities and developers to take advantage of this opportunity to cooperate closely on the ground and to provide much needed housing which the availability of this fund presents.”
The call for proposals announced today is part of the wider commitment by the Government to deliver social and private to tackle the major housing supply problem facing the country.
The Minister highlighted “With such substantial Exchequer commitments, we do need a sufficient level of guarantee that developers will produce the housing units as quickly as possible to have an immediate impact on new housing supply. Proposals must demonstrate very strong prospects for substantial housing delivery from early 2017 onwards on strategically located sites that can deliver housing at scale. It’s also critical that we optimise the social housing dividend and improve synergies between private and social housing developments through the Fund. These are among the criteria in deciding on successful proposals.”

Local authorities will now prepare LIHAF proposals, working in conjunction with housing providers, including private developers and home builders and/or Approved Housing Bodies, for submission to the Department by mid-October. It is anticipated that provisional allocations under LIHAF will be announced by mid-December at the latest to enable commencement of relevant projects in early 2017.
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