Dublin City councillors are being asked to approve hundreds of “affordable” homes in a new development at prices from €325,000 to €380,000.
But opponents are calling for the Oscar Traynor Road scheme in the north of the city to be voted down because it is “a bad deal”.
The eye-watering prices will be charged for units with from one to three bedrooms and are the overall cost including site service fees and help to buy grants.
The asking prices are far in excess of what most would consider affordable and would see first-time buyers, ordinary workers and locals all likely to be priced out of the market.
Sinn Fein TD Denise Mitchell, the party’s junior spokesperson on housing, wants the scheme to be stopped. The 853-home development is coming before a meeting of Dublin City Council later this month and Ms Mitchell is pleading with councillors to vote it down.
The breakdown of housing under the Dublin City Council Land Initiative will see the proposed development built on a 50% open market, 30% social and 20% affordable ratio.
Ms Mitchell said if the project goes ahead it will “make the so-called affordable unaffordable for most working people”.
Developers Glenveagh have won the tender with the council to build 853 homes on the 17-hectare site.
Under the Housing Land Initiative the developer pays a cash sum, provides social and affordable homes at cost and builds infrastructure in return for developing the private housing. The developer will provide 428 private homes, 253 social housing units and 172 affordable properties, satisfying the council’s ratio.
It is promised there will be 51 one-bed units, 87 two-bed and 34 three-bed, totalling 172 affordable homes in all.
But the definition of affordable is being challenged by Sinn Fein among others.
The report for councillors states the cost of one-bed properties will be up to €260,000, two-bed will be €300,000 and three-bed will be put on sale at a maximum of €320,000.
But these prices don’t include the site service fees, averaging €50,000, or the help to buy grant, worth up to €30,000, that will also be added to the overall prices.
This brings the real prices up to €325,000 for a one-bed, €357,000 for a two-bed and €380,000 for a three-bed.
Dublin City Council said: “It is a model that allows social and affordable homes to be provided at a reduced price.
“The interests of the community are at the heart of the model. We have excluded practices such as shared living and student accommodation.”
