The Government missed its target for newly built social housing last year by over 1,400 units, reports Breaking News.
Data published by the Department of Housing on Wednesday revealed that 10,595 social homes were added to the national stock in 2024 through local authorities and approved housing bodies.
This total included 7,871 newly constructed homes, 1,501 purchased properties, and 1,223 homes provided through leasing schemes, reports Breaking News.
The shortfall in new builds amounted to 1,429 homes, or 15 percent, while 907 fewer leased homes were delivered than anticipated.
Housing Minister James Browne said he “acknowledged” the gap in the new-build figures and stated he expects every local authority to “do everything possible” to hit their targets this year, reports Breaking News.
Mr Browne has committed to releasing quarterly progress updates starting this year, showing how each local authority is performing against its individual new-build goals.
Meanwhile, the statistics show that the Government exceeded its target for affordable housing, reports Breaking News.
In total, over 7,100 affordable home supports were delivered in 2024, surpassing the goal of 6,400.
When adding in Housing Assistance Payment (8,121) and Rental Accommodation Scheme (1,576) supports, a combined total of 20,292 housing supports were recorded.
The 2024 targets had been 8,800 HAP and 1,600 RAS tenancies, reports Breaking News.
The department noted that, as in previous years, a large portion of delivery took place in the final quarter.
Mr Browne said in a statement: “The downturn in private sector building output raised concerns that there would be a similar hit to social housing delivery.
“It appears from these figures that, while there certainly has been an impact, it has not been as pronounced as may have been feared with 7,871 new-build social homes delivered across 2024. That figure equates to around 96.5 per cent of the 8,110 delivered in 2023, a year that brought levels of delivery not seen since the 1970s,” reports Breaking News.
“To drive home a renewed urgency in delivering social housing, I will be meeting with the chief executives of all 31 local authorities to discuss their targets and plans to bring forward projects on their own land. Reaching our overall annual targets is dependent on each local authority meeting their target, and we cannot afford for any individual local authority to fall behind,” reports Breaking News.
Data also showed that 5,751 new social homes were built in the last quarter of the year by local authorities and approved housing bodies.
According to the latest Construction Status Report, 10,614 social housing units are currently under construction, with a further 13,996 in the design or tendering phase, reports Breaking News.
In the fourth quarter alone, 80 new construction projects were added to the pipeline, totaling 1,489 homes.
Since the July 2022 launch of the Government’s First Home Scheme, more than 6,000 shared equity approvals have been granted across all local authorities, with 74 percent issued in Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Meath, and Wicklow, reports Breaking News.
Roughly 480 of these approvals were made in the final quarter of last year, bringing the 2024 total to 2,851.
Figures also show that, as of November 4th, 59,941 households were deemed eligible for and in need of social housing support, reports Breaking News.
This marked a rise of 1,117 households from 58,824 on November 1st, 2023.
Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin O Broin argued that the Government fell short by 3,023 homes on its new-build target, and accused the minister of being “out of his depth with no new ideas”, reports Breaking News.
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