Sinn Féin bit back at a claim last week by Minister for Housing James Browne that the State was now delivering 50 per cent of all new homes.
Speaking at the Dublin Economic Workshop’s annual conference at the weekend, Browne indicated that approximately 15,000 of the 30,000 new homes delivered last year came either directly via local councils or indirectly through Government-funded Approved Housing Bodies, the Land Development Agency and/or other State supports and grant schemes.
But Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin O’Bróin claimed the Government-supported total was closer to 10,000 while highlighting that more than 80 per cent of these were bought from private developers via so-called turnkey units and Part Vs, whereby local authorities can acquire a percentage of new developments.
O’Bróin also claimed the Government missed its public housing targets by approximately 3,000 last year. The social out-turn was 15 per cent below target; the cost rental 16 per cent below target; while the affordable purchase was 69 per cent below target, he said.
It’s unclear what yardstick the Minister was using for his tally when he talks about the State-funded supply, but it seems he may be including homes bought through the Government’s Help to Buy scheme.
Either way, it’s a testament to the high level of State involvement in housing here, which some may view as a negative.
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Total State, or State-backed investment in housing, last year came to approximately €5 billion, with the number of schemes and measures – to activate construction, to build more affordable homes and to help buyers get on the ladder – continuing to grow.
Once seen as a game-changer, the Land Development Agency, which has a remit to build affordable housing on State land, has been bogged down in planning.
Also speaking at the event was agency chairman Cormac O’Rourke, who highlighted the agency’s challenge to deliver almost 1,000 homes on the site of the former Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum in Dublin, now subject to a legal challenge.
“It’s very frustrating to have a situation where the State entities with the capacity to review environmental issues are quite happy with the site, and then an individual can relitigate those and hold it up,” he said.
On the upside, he said the LDA is on track to deliver 2,000-2,500 new homes in 2026 and up to 3,500 in 2027, making it bigger than Cairn or Glenveagh in terms of output.
