Longford will soon be able to benefit from a Government affordable homes scheme, a year and a half after its launch.
Part of the Housing for All programme, the Affordable Housing Scheme sees the local authority takes a €50,000 stake in a new house which would-be purchasers can then redeem over time.
Longford was among several counties that did not reach the qualifying criteria for the supports, with local representatives branding the government programme as 'Housing for Some' at the time.
Longford/Westmeath TD Joe Flaherty has confirmed that following months of negotiations with the Department of Housing, a bespoke version of the scheme will launch in the county in the new year.
The programme will see between 10 and 12 spaces on the scheme offered to members of the Longford public, with expressions of interest being sough from January.
The Fianna Fail deputy says the new plan will be a litmus test for the roll out to other excluded counties:
The challenge always was the affordability issue in that houses are still cheaper to buy in Longford then they are to build.
You can probably buy a house in Longford for €150,000.
But the point we've continually made to the department is that to bring that house up to an A rated standard that you need in the current climate, you possibly have to spend a further €70,000 to €100,000.
That would bring it up to the cost of building a new house and once we were able to make that argument with conviction, the department saw the merit.
