Ó An Roinn Tithíochta, Rialtais Áitúil agus Oidhreachta
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The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage today (20 December) published the Q3 social and affordable housing delivery statistics following the standard and necessary verification processes.
The latest figures show that 1,866 new social homes were delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies in Q3 2024, including 946 new-build homes, 421 acquisitions and 499 homes delivered through leasing programmes.
Including Housing Assistance Payment (2,034) and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (353), 4,253 new social housing supports were delivered in Q3 this year.
Overall, in the first 9-months of 2024, 4,265 new social homes have been delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, including 2,119 new-build homes, 1,296 acquisitions and 850 homes delivered through leasing programmes. When the Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Scheme are added, a total of 11,805 housing supports were delivered in the first three-quarters of 2023.
It is important to note that, traditionally, the delivery of social housing accelerates throughout the year and the bulk of delivery is achieved in Q4. Last year, over two-thirds of all new-build delivery occurred in the final three-months of the year, and 2024 is on course to see a similar surge in the final quarter.
The department has also published the Construction Status Report (CSR) for Q3 2024. The CSR provides scheme-level detail on new-build social housing activity. This is sorted by local authority, and gives a list of the individual projects that make up the new build programme for that local authority (excluding LA Part V delivery).
The report shows that 12,492 social homes are currently onsite with an additional 15,750 homes at design and tender stage, giving a total of 28,242 homes at all stages of design and build. In Q3 2024, 124 new construction schemes (1,921 homes) were added to the pipeline.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien today said:
“This delivery of social housing is indicative of the overall progress in the delivery of all types of housing in Ireland. Just yesterday, it was announced that 54,574 new homes were commenced in the first 11 months of this year. This represents an increase of 84% compared to the same period last year, and means that on average, 235 new homes were commenced every working day in 2024 to the end of November.
“It is particularly encouraging to see that the latest Construction Status Report indicates a sustained momentum in the delivery of social housing, with a robust pipeline of new build social housing projects.
"Housing for All has resulted in a significant uptick in social housing provision, surpassing levels not seen since the 1970s and this positive trajectory is set to continue."
Today’s data from the department also showed that in Q3, 1,813 new affordable housing supports were delivered via Approved Housing Bodies, local authorities, the Land Development Agency (LDA), the Cost Rental Tenant-in-Situ scheme, the First Home Scheme, and through the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant. This represents an increase of over 123% to those supports provided in Q3 of 2023.
So far in the first 9 months of this year, a total of 4,480 affordable housing options have been delivered. This is more than double the 2,105 delivered in the same period last year, and already exceeds the entire total number of affordable housing supports (4,011) provided in 2023.
The popularity of the First Home Scheme as a key support for first-time buyers has continued. Over 5,500 First Home Scheme approvals have issued since its launch in July 2022. More than 700 approvals were issued in Q3 2024.
The third quarter witnessed a further increase in the provision of local authority affordable purchase homes, with an additional 305 units delivered. This brings the total number of homes delivered since the launch of Housing for All to almost 1,300.
This affordable purchase delivery pipeline continues to grow with over 3,800 affordable purchase homes approved for support from the Affordable Housing Fund across 21 local authority areas with opportunities for affordable purchase homes already advertised in 19 local authorities to-date: Carlow, Clare, Cork City, Cork County, all four Dublin local authorities, Galway County, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Waterford, Westmeath and Wicklow.
As with affordable purchase, the momentum in delivering cost rental homes continues, with over 460 new homes added in Q3. This brings the overall total to 2,640 cost rental homes provided by Approved Housing Bodies, local authorities, the LDA and through the Cost Rental in Situ scheme.
In terms of Approved Housing Body delivery, over €956 million has been approved under the Cost Rental Equity Loan since launch to assist in the delivery of over 4,500 cost-rental homes across 16 local authority areas. There is also a further pipeline of more than 1,200 local authority cost-rental homes across 14 projects.
In addition, to support households at risk of homelessness, 196 bids have been accepted as part of the Cost Rental Tenant-in-Situ scheme to the end of Q3 2024 since launch in April 2023.
In Q3 2024, 210 LDA new cost-rental homes were made available in Parkside, Belmayne, Dublin 13. This delivery demonstrates the progress made by the LDA to date in advancing the availability of affordable housing.
Under Project Tosaigh, the LDA is targeting 8,000 homes by 2028 and currently on track to deliver 5,000 of these homes by the end of 2026.
Real progress is also being made on transferring public lands to the LDA and constructing homes on these lands. In Cork, the first phase of a total expected delivery of 265 homes is under construction at St Kevin’s Hospital and in Naas, 219 homes are being delivered at Devoy Barracks. Both of these projects are expected to see delivery by end 2025.
The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant, introduced in July 2022, is part of a range of initiatives to address vacancy and make bringing existing properties back into use more affordable.
Since its launch to the end of Q3 2024, over 10,000 applications have been approved for the grant, with a total of 867 grants paid out to successful applicants following completion of refurbishment work.
The level of grant drawdowns continues to ramp up, with rates increasing by more than 48% from Q2 2024. This level of activity is expected to continue, with drawdowns anticipated to continue to rise into 2025 as more works are completed.
Commenting on the overall progress made on affordable delivery so far in 2024, Minister O’Brien said:
“Affordable housing schemes are now operating at scale, and we have already surpassed last year’s output. The affordable housing delivery programme continues to expand and develop quarter-on-quarter, supported by unprecedented levels of state investment.
“Crucially, as the pipeline of affordable housing delivery is developed and expanded by local authorities, AHBs, and the LDA, the momentum is set to continue, enabling more and more people to realistically purchase or rent a long-term, affordable home.”
The full data published today can be accessed here: Overall social and affordable housing provision.