Housing & Planning

Social housing delivery falls short of State target by 2,700 homes

‘Government refuses to acknowledge that at the heart of the housing crisis is an affordability crisis,’ Social Democrats Cian O’Callaghan says

Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien: Different local authorities face different challenges and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Jack White
Thu Mar 28 2024 - 21:15

The Government failed to reach its social and affordable housing delivery targets in 2023, with a shortfall of almost 2,700 homes.

Some 11,939 new social homes were delivered last year, an increase of 16.33 per cent on 2022 with 10,263 social homes.

However, this year’s figure fell short of the Government’s target of 13,130 by 1,191 homes.

Of the 11,939 new social homes accounted for by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies last year, 8,110 were newbuild homes, 1,830 were acquisitions and 1,999 were through leasing programmes.

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Local authorities accounted for 2,429 newbuilds, with Dublin City Council delivering 323 followed by Cork City Council (263) and South Dublin County Council (190).

[ Darragh O’Brien accused of misleading Dáil during homelessness debate ]

Monaghan County Council had the fewest newbuild properties at 12, followed by Cavan County Council (27) and Donegal County Council (28).

More than half (7,132) of the new social homes were delivered in the last four months of 2023.

Separately, some 4,011 affordable houses came on stream in 2023, despite a target of 5,500 for the year.

When broken down by local authority, South Dublin County Council delivered the most affordable homes at 650, followed closely by Fingal County Council (630).

Leitrim County Council provided the fewest affordable homes (three), followed by Longford County Council (five) and Kerry County Council (seven).

Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said different local authorities faced different challenges and it was clear that there was no one-size-fits-all solution.

[ How social housing providers and first-time buyers became accidental rivals in a squeezed market ]

[ Costs of social housing construction in Dublin are double those elsewhere ]

“For that reason, engagement and ongoing collaboration have been key to getting us to where we are now. Maintaining this will also be critical to our efforts to realise the ambitious overall Housing for All targets that were originally set out in 2021 – as well as our collective ability to respond to increased targets that we know are coming.”

Social Democrats TD and spokesman for housing Cian O’Callaghan said that, at a time of record homelessness, the failure to meet social housing targets had “enormously damaging consequences”.

“This government refuses to acknowledge that at the heart of the housing crisis is an affordability crisis. That is why we have more than 500,000 adults living in their childhood bedrooms and more than 4,000 children growing up in emergency accommodation.”

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