2019 saw a new record level of public investment of €2.44 billion being made to support the delivery of housing programmes. To ensure accountability for taxpayers’ money, targets for each local authority area were set at the beginning of the year and delivery in each local authority area is now being published against these targets. These more detailed tables can be accessed here.
At a national level the new build output in 2016, the first year of Rebuilding Ireland, was 657 new homes. In 2019, the new build output was 5,771 new homes, an almost 900% increase.
The breakdown by local authority shows progress by each local authority in meeting their targets. At the end of 2019, there were a further 6,700 social homes under construction across the country.
The priority has always been to provide new homes for families and individuals. While there was a slight shortfall in build delivery in 2019, local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies ensured that any delivery shortfalls were made up through acquisitions, including targeting vacant homes and homes suitable for Housing First purposes.
In terms of some of the challenges encountered in 2019, delivery of build homes under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) schemes was delayed as earlier pre-contract stages of work required to get the programme off the ground took longer than expected. The construction stage of the programme is now progressing very well. In addition, delays on a number of other projects meant that some local authorities ended the year short on their targets.
A new Housing Delivery Co-ordination Office (HDCO) has been established by the local government sector to act as an enhanced centre of support and expertise for housing delivery. The HDCO will work closely with my Department, the Housing Agency, the Land Development Agency (LDA) and other key stakeholders to accelerate housing delivery further and monitor and report on progress. In that context, the HDCO has been asked to examine performance in the small number of local authorities with the greatest deficits in delivery versus targetsso that the underlying issues can be addressed.
By end-2019, over 31,200 of the 50,000 new social homes initially targeted for delivery under Rebuilding Ireland through build, acquisition and leasing by end-2021 had been delivered (the target for the period to end 2019 was 27,159).
Housing Assistance Payment (HAP)
HAP and RAS supports are not included in the figures or tables above. When the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) are also considered, over 28,000 homes were provided to families and individuals in 2019. Since Rebuilding Ireland was launched in 2016, more than 100,000 homes across all delivery streams have been provided to families and individuals on social housing waiting lists.
COVID-19
Like so many other sectors, COVID-19 has impacted on some elements of activity under the social housing programme over recent weeks. It is not yet clear how social distancing and other measures on building sites might impact overall 2020 overall delivery. However, even during the period of restrictions, it has been possible to put in place robust, public health compliant arrangements to get 1,000 essential homes re-activated for early completion. A similar pro-active approach will continue to be followed in engagements with local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, the construction sector and other stakeholders in order to recommence activity on further sites from 18 May, complying with all the relevant protocols from a public health point of view.
In 2019, the stock of social housing increased by 10,007 new homes through build, acquisition and leasing programmes.
This was achieved as follows:
| 2019 output | 2019 target |
LA new build | 2,271 | |
AHB new build | 2,174 | |
Part V new build | 1,326 | |
New build total | 5,771 | 6,242 |
Voids* | 303 | |
All build total | 6,074 | 6,545 |
LA acquisition | 1,905 | |
AHB acquisition | 867 | |
Acquisition total | 2,772 | 1,325 |
Leasing total | 1,161 | 2,130 |
Increase in stock total** | 10,007 | 10,000 |
* Voids are long-term vacant or derelict local authority housing. An additional 1,200 such properties were rebuilt or returned to use in 2019 but these are not included in the figures above and are in addition to the 303 noted in the table.
** The increase in stock does not include homes provided through private sector rentals (e.g. HAP and RAS programmes, or Rent Supplement)