Coveney ‘confident’ 350 modular homes will be under construction by end-of-year

Minister for Housing Simon Coveney says that 350 "rapid-build" housing units will be under construction by the end of the year.

“I met with all the CEOs of the four Dublin local authorities yesterday and instructed them that we want 350 units under way by the end of the year and I am confident that they will meet that target,” he said.

“The challenge is getting through the process. It takes time to get from the starting point to the finished house. Local authorities are using emergency powers to fast track projects.”

Mr Coveney’s comments come following the release of figures that showed no new rapid-build houses for homeless families living in hotels will be built by any Dublin local authority this year, despite Government commitments to have 320 under way by Christmas.

So far, only Dublin City Council has built any modular housing – 22 houses in Poppintree, Ballymun, which had been due for completion last December, but were not occupied until May this year.

Figures from the four Dublin local authorities show that no other rapid-build housing will be completed this year, with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council not expected to complete any of the homes until the end of next year.

Under the Government's Rebuilding Ireland housing action plan, published last July, 200 rapid-build homes were to be completed by the end of this year, and another 800 by the end of next year.

Mr Simon Coveney recently updated this target, saying that 320 homes would either be “complete or under construction” by the end of this year.

When asked on RTÉ's Morning Ireland why local authorities were building houses when it was cheaper to buy, Mr Coveney said that he didn't want local authorities competing with other people wanting to buy homes.

Homelessness

Mr Coveney also admitted that the current homeless figures are the worst that he has ever seen.

A record total of 6,709 people were homeless across the State last month and of the overall number of homeless, 5,058 were living in Dublin.

He said that the figures came less than two months after his department’s housing strategy was launched.

“Over €400million extra will be spent getting on top of this issue and I am determined to get on top of this issue.”

He said that the target for rapid build homes had been more than trebled while the budget had been doubled.

Mr Coveney added that he had week received Cabinet approval this week to streamline the process in order to reduce the time it takes to build social housing.

“We are ramping up the process, providing funding for more social housing and encouraging the private sector to provide more.

“We have a very ambitious housing and homeless strategy for the next four to five years,” he said.