Government to provide further 17,000 social housing units
Last week, the government said it will provide another 17,000 units of social housing this year as part of its five-year programme to tackle the housing crisis. Compared with the 13,000 units that were provided last year, which was already an 86% increase on the year before.
In a report on the Social Housing Strategy, the Department of the Environment said the recovery in public housing is now happening faster than in the private sector.
The 17,000 units are to be provided by a mixture of construction, refurbishment of empty local authority dwellings, leasing buildings for rental to council tenants and rental-assistance schemes where local authorities pay supplements directly to private landlords.
This now includes the Housing Assistance Payment which provides rent for those on low incomes as distinct from social welfare.
The overall plan is to provide a total of 110,000 units of accommodation including new builds for those on council waiting lists between 2015 and 2020 at a cost of nearly €4bn.
Minister Alan Kelly said local authorities will be constructing 10,000 new social housing units a year by 2020, and that it is the biggest home-building programme in the history of the State. Also 500 units of modular housing will be completed this year in Dublin, according to the Minister.
There will 1,000 such units this year and he said the “foundational work” of selection, acquisition and planning is being done now following the hiring of 240 additional planning staff for local councils.
