Irish Government Launches 'Affordable Housing Website'

Michael Finneran, T.D., Minister for Housing, Urban Renewal and Developing Areas launched an important new resource for affordable home purchase on Tuesday.

The local authorities and the Affordable Homes Partnership are to market affordable homes available for purchase around Ireland on one website for the first time.

This site will provide extensive information on affordable home ownership and later this year, it will be extended to support also direct applications for affordable home purchase.

Welcoming the initiative, Minister Finneran said "This new website will be an invaluable resource for everyone engaged in the development of affordable homes. 

"The site will act as a direct access for prospective buyers to the affordable homes market. 

"It's a very positive move by the local authorities and the Affordable Homes Partnership that will assist home searchers everywhere."

Speaking at the launch of the new website www.affordablehome.ie, Mr Des Geraghty, the Chairman of the Affordable Homes Partnership, said it would be an invaluable tool for those seeking affordable homes.   "The website will now facilitate a simpler information gathering process for the public.  Each local authority has a page on the site, which provides information on their specific eligibility criteria and a copy of their application form.  Affordable homes, which are available in each area, can now also be comprehensively detailed on this user-friendly website."

"The website will offer a wealth of information on each home, from size, features and useful facts on the locality. 

"Effectively, it's a full information resource on affordable homes and will help everyone involved in affordable home provision such as public representatives, the construction sector and the general public."

The new website is the first online initiative for affordable home ownership with information on the availability of affordable housing nationwide. 

It was created at the request of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and is a collaboration between the Affordable Homes Partnership and all local authorities. 

In an attempt to facilitate the many new international communities in Ireland, information on the new website is translated into Polish, Lithuanian and Chinese as well as Irish.  

The first three languages were chosen based on data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and will help local authorities deal with queries from the public.