APPLICATIONS FOR 94 cost-rental apartments in Delgany in Co Wicklow are to open tomorrow, the Land Development Agency (LDA) has announced.

Rent for the apartments will start at €1,220 for a one-bed unit, and will be an average of 30% below market rate.

Eligible tenants must have a net household income of below €53,000 a year. The LDA said this would make the apartments a viable option for households on low to moderate incomes who do not qualify for social housing.

The development includes 37 one-bed apartments, 53 two-beds and four three-beds.

The two-bedroom units will have a monthly rent of €1,445 and the three-beds will cost €1,530 per month to rent.

Applications will open tomorrow, 11 April, at midday, on the LDA website. They will close on 18 April.

Applicants must not be in receipt of any social housing supports, including rent supplement or HAP, and they cannot already own a property.

A total of 142 cost-rental homes will be delivered at the Archers Wood development, near Greystones. Some 48 duplex homes have already been released in Archers Wood.

Tenants have been allocated the first 24 homes and offers have been made for the second 24.

The homes are being delivered under Project Tosaigh, a government initiative in which the LDA oversees the completion of unviable or stalled private housing developments and then makes the homes available as either cost rental or affordable purchase.

The 94 units are now owned by the state.

Unsuccessful applicants for the first 42 homes can apply for an apartment, but they will have to complete the registration process again.

The LDA is the state’s affordable housing delivery body. It currently has planning permission for 2,243 homes on public land, in areas including Skerries in north County Dublin and Naas in Co Kildare.

Planning approval was received recently for 817 homes at a site at Castlelands in Balbriggan and 345 homes in Hacketstown in Skerries. The LDA also has permission for 219 homes at Devoy Barracks in Naas, Co. Kildare.

The first houses being built by the LDA are expected to be completed next year.

The agency expects to deliver 5,000 homes by 2026 by purchasing stalled or unviable private developments.