A new "affordable housing scheme" designed to allow inner-city residents to continue living in the area after redevelopment was launched in Dublin yesterday.
The prototype scheme, Affordable Housing Scheme for Dublin Docklands, is aimed at expanding the "sustainable" element of the Dublin Docklands Master Plan which would allow for existing communities to remain in situ and to assist them in buying their own homes. If successful, it may be extended to other areas of urban renewal.
The scheme was launched by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey, who described it as "a docklands scheme for docklands people".
He acknowledged that in the past where urban renewal had taken place existing communities had suffered through increasing house prices and "an absence of what you might call a well-developed social dimension".
The Minister said the scheme was an excellent example of different agencies - the Dublin Docklands Authority and Dublin Corporation - working together to tackle an important social issue.
It will be based on the existing shared ownership scheme, with additional features to combat the "affordability gap" in house prices.
The Minister said the Docklands Authority had a budget of £1.6 billion over 15 years and while he commended it for the progress it had made in the past, he said there was now a need to take account of recent developments such as the strategic planning guidelines and the European Commission's position on urban renewal tax incentives.
However, a Labour Party member of the authority, Mr Dermot Lacey, who is also an outgoing councillor on Dublin City Council, said the Minister was "usurping the work of community groups and the Docklands council on their social housing initiative".
