The Government has vowed that it will hit its housing targets for 2023 but declined to say when it will end homelessness.
During a quarter-two update on the Government’s Housing for All report, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien was unable to say how many social homes were completed in the first quarter of 2023.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Ministers Eamon Ryan and O’Brien announced details of a €150 million fund to end long-term vacancy and dereliction in towns and cities.
Read More: Ryan Tubridy tells Oireachtas committee of grim fate on his radio show
Local authorities have indicated that they could identify 946 projects that have the potential to generate 4,850 residential units.
They also published a Roadmap for Increased Adoption of Modern Methods of Construction in Public Housing Delivery.
Minister O’Brien confirmed that work has started on 12,987 homes so far this year.
To date, some 6,716 homes were completed. However, Mr O’Brien said that the Government did not have figures for how many social housing units were completed in the first quarter of 2023.
He refused to give reporters a “ballpark” figure when asked. The target for the full year is 9,100.
He also would not specify annualised targets for bringing down homelessness figures. In May, there were 12,441 people in emergency accommodation.
Mr O’Brien said: “The number one priority is homelessness.
“We've far too many people in States-supported emergency accommodation.
We have seen a slowdown in that but that's no that's no consolation to people who find themselves in that situation.
“The fundamental way to deal with this is through supply. Thankfully in quarter four last year, we saw more people exiting from homelessness into permanent social housing solutions than we've seen before. We need to continue that trend.
“I'm not going to set a target number to be straight with you. Fundamentally, it is about those who are in emergency accommodation that provide every assistance for them to exit from that.”
The Housing Minister also defended the fact that his plans to offer tenants who are being evicted from their homes first refusal to buy the home has been delayed. The plan was announced on March 7.
He said that the “start of that is effectively in practice” as councils have increased the number of homes they are buying under the tenant in situ scheme.
The Taoiseach, meanwhile, once again stated that he is hopeful that house prices have stabilised.
He said that while supply does affect price, there are also a range of other issues that can lead to high house prices.
The supply of new homes is obviously one of those, the other is population, another is incomes, another is interest rates, for example.
“There's many factors at play. But why I anticipate is the house prices have now stabilised and may fall back a bit but nobody can say for sure.
“But it's not just about supply.”
