The Land Development Agency (LDA) has today (Friday, July 21) announced that it is seeking expressions of interest from landowners as it plans to purchase privately owned sites for the delivery of affordable housing.
The LDA was initially set up to deliver affordable housing on State-owned land.
The agency has planning permission for over 3,500 homes on State-owned lands with many projects already under construction.
LDA
The LDA was subsequently been tasked with running Project Tosaigh, a government initiative whereby the agency purchases and completes stalled or unviable housing projects in partnership with developers.
The LDA then makes the homes available through affordable purchase or cost rental schemes.
As part of its remit, the agency also has the option of buying privately-owned land to deliver affordable housing and it has now identified the need and opportunity to do this.
The LDA will consider all submissions received, but landowners should be aware that the land acquisition initiative will be initially focussed on large-scale sites that could be used for higher density homes in the five main cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.
The agency is particularly seeking large-scale sites with existing planning permission for over 200 homes.
The agency will assess the sites referred to it according to criteria such as transport links, development viability and building cost efficiencies. Sites close to or near existing State-owned lands will be of particular interest.
“The LDA is seeking to maximise every opportunity to deliver affordable housing,” John Coleman, chief executive of the LDA, said.
“As we continue to grow and maintain a steady pipeline of affordable housing, it makes sense to also look at potential opportunities involving the outright purchase of privately-owned land and we are now seeking expressions of interest from landowners in this regard.
“We believe it is possible to acquire sites in the country’s main cities at costs that allow for the development of affordable housing, particularly in cases where we can deploy the LDA’s expertise and experience at scale on projects that will deliver the right housing in the right place,” he added.
Interested landowners can find the expressions of interest information and submission documents and requirements on the LDA website.