Thread by @naoiseomuiri, So as the little people are heading to bed here is that [...]

So as the little people are heading to bed here is that thread on #OscarTraynor. This project has its genesis in the Housing Land Initiative (HLI) which was an initiative of the last Council (2014-2019). In summary the Council gave riding instructions to DCC officials to find

development partners in the private sector (yes, the private sector - God forbid...) for 3 large sites - St Michaels Est, O'Devaney Gdns and Oscar Traynor Rd. Part of those instructions included a 20:30:50 ratio of tenure between affordable, social and private.

The final mix that DCC has arrived at with partner Glenveigh is the following:

In terms of the affordable homes element of course I'd like to see them at a lower price but I think we can do further work on that while they are being built (note that cheaper = subsidy i.e. someone must pay - I don't live in that land of "someone else must pay").

Note the maximum loan available under Rebuilding Ireland is €320k so all of the above units should qualify.

Part of the deal is for the development partner to deliver a range of community facilities - there is no point in listing them but this graphic will give you a sense of what is going on:

So financial end of the transaction looks like the following:
- DCC provides the land and get €14m in return
- DCC/AHB buys the social units back (@ cost price) from the development partner - established funding mechanisms available for this

- affordable units are purchased direct by buyers using e.g. Rebuilding Ireland loans
- development partner builds all facilities for community use
- development partner builds and sells the private housing.

Final point - timeframe - aim is to be complete by 2024 and I expect that a Development Agreement will be put in place to underpin this.

I think there are at least 2 areas of the proposal that could be improved being (a) affordability of the 172 units and (b) ensuring the private units are accessible to direct buyers. However I'm happy to look to make progress on these issues while the units are being built

So to the politics. The main objection to this seems to be grounded in the fact that it should be done a different way - DCC keeps the site and develops it out itself with social and affordable only. Here are a few thoughts on that:
(1) Get your chequebook out because that looks

like €250m+ of capital to me with no established funding stream
(2) DCC has little to no house-building specialist capability in-house (construction professionals, skilled tradespeople, direct labour)

(3) The construction industry which was decimated in the recession (hat-tip to Fianna Fáil and the Greens) has still not recovered its capacity and DCC will really struggle to compete for resources available (partnering with a substantial player makes sense here)

(4) I could go on and on - but I won't.

When it comes down to it to me it looks like the parties on the left on Dublin City Council are either ideologically opposed to private housing or ideologically opposed to private developers - or perhaps both. The idea that DCC can scale

up and do this all on its own is somewhere between absurd and nonsensical.

I know also that there are genuine issues remaining to be resolved with local residents around access arrangements, masterplans etc and we need to take time and space deal with those properly now.

Finally:

Remember - 853 units of mixed tenure ready to go now, delivered by 2024.

OR do not pass go, do not collect €200 and go back to the drawing board for another 5 years - but the ideology remains secure.

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