Applications have opened for a cost-rental development in the north Dublin seaside town of Rush which is offering tenants some of the lowest Dublin rents under the scheme to date.
Renters who do not qualify for social housing but whose net household income is less than €53,000 a year can apply to become tenants of the 55 cost-rental homes at Mariners Way, a new development a few minutes’ walk from the village.
Rents have been set at €910 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, €1,155 for a two-bedroom apartment and €1,260 for a two-bedroom house. The rents are similar to the State’s first cost-rental housing scheme slightly further up the coast in Balbriggan, where rents in July 2021 ranged from €935 to €1,150 a month.
Under the cost-rental system, rents are based on the cost of building, managing and maintaining the homes, and not market rates. Tenants also have long-term security, with leases of several years’ duration available.
The scheme is aimed at workers who earn too much to qualify for social housing supports but who cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market, and is open to households with a net income of up to €53,000 a year. Applicants cannot be in receipt of any social housing supports, including rent supplement or housing assistance payment (HAP) and must not own a property.
The Mariners Way homes, which are expected to be available to tenants from July, will be managed by housing body Respond, which is now receiving applications through its website at respond.ie. It is expected the scheme will be oversubscribed, with a lottery system used to chose from eligible applicants.
Respond recently started construction on 67 cost-rental apartments at Lisieux Hall in Sandyford. These apartments, which are expected to be completed by 2025, include three studios, with rents set at €1,137.50 a month, 28 one-bedroom apartments priced at €1,312.50 a month, 31 two-bedroom apartments at €1,485 each, and five three-bedroom apartments for rent at €1,530.
The Mariners Way cost-rental homes are part of a larger development where earlier this year a three-bedroom house was offered for sale at €490,000 and a four-bedroom house at €545,000.
The estate is about 4.5km from Rush-Lusk train station and opposite Rush north beach.
