Eleven local authorities failed to deliver a single new-build home in first half of 2022
Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said Ireland was 'too over-reliant' on turnkey and Part V homes. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Almost a decade after the Government declared housing an 'emergency', local authorities all over Ireland are still failing to produce any direct-build social homes despite record funding being allocated to tackle the crisis.
It has emerged that 11 local authorities, including three in Dublin, failed to deliver a single new-build house in the first six months of this year, with just 647 homes directly built as the State’s housing emergency worsened.
The failure of three of the four councils in the capital — where the housing problem is most acute — to build any new homes has been severely criticised.
Overly strict application of the State’s spending code and “bureaucratic red tape” involving officials in the two departments of public expenditure and housing are being blamed for the low rate of delivery.
New figures released by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien’s own department reveal that just 251 homes were directly built in the first quarter of 2022. And, during that time period, 18 of the 31 local authorities delivered no new homes. In the second quarter, 396 homes were delivered but still 12 counties failed to produce a single new home.
The 11 local authorities which had not built a single house by mid-2022 are: Dun Laoghaire, Mr O’Brien’s own council of Fingal, Galway City Council, Galway County Council, Kildare County Council, Longford County Council, Louth County Council, Mayo County Council, Roscommon County Council, Sligo County Council, and South Dublin County Council.
Wicklow County Council had produced the most new homes, with 113 units coming on stream.
According to the department, the new-build category since 2017 includes those homes delivered through its rapid build programme, so-called traditional construction, turnkey homes bought from developers, regenerated properties, and those built through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
According to Mr O’Brien’s department’s statistics:
- The Government missed its social housing target of 28,550 homes in 2021 by 5,238, as only 23,312 additional units were delivered;
- These figures are heavily reliant on the units delivered under the housing assistance payment (HAP) and the rent assistance supplement (RAS);
- Last year, of the 23,312 homes sourced, 14,129 (60%) were delivered through HAP and RAS, exposing the Government’s “over-reliance” on the private sector;
- In 2021, new builds, acquisitions, and lease deals accounted for just 9,183, well short of its target of 12,750.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin told the the figures clearly show the Government and local authorities are “too over-reliant” on turnkey builds and Part V homes.
“While they are welcome, the local authorities need to be delivering themselves in much greater numbers. But the fact is, they are not,” he added.
Criticism has been levelled at the level of bureaucracy involved in the current four stage process for approval from the Department of Housing and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to local authorities.
