Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Housing for All sets out the range of actions necessary to increase the supply of housing to the required 33,000 homes, on average, per year over the next decade. Some 54,000 affordable homes will be delivered between now and 2030. In the first 18 months of the new programme, more than 3,000 affordable homes have been delivered through our new cost-rental schemes, the first home scheme and the local authority affordable purchase scheme. This momentum will continue as the pipeline of affordable housing delivery is developed and expanded by our delivery partners. In the past month alone, the Minister approved funding of €448 million for more than 1,900 affordable homes in eight local authority areas. This is in addition to the strong pipeline of more than 22,600 social homes either on site or at various stages of design and procurement. Ultimately, increasing housing supply across all tenures is essential in our efforts to prevent homelessness. Housing for All is successfully supporting a significantly increased supply of new homes, with almost 30,000 built in 2022. This represents an increase of 45% on 2021 and 5,250 homes, or 21%, more than the Housing for All target of 24,600.

Furthermore, more than 22,400 homes have been built to the end of September 2023, with the Housing for All targets of 29,000 and 33,450 expected to be met, if not exceeded, in 2023 and 2024 respectively. In commenting on the effectiveness of the Government 's Housing for All strategy, it is worth putting on record the latest report from Euroconstruct, an independent construction market forecasting network active in 19 European countries. It notes that construction output in Ireland is forecast to grow at the fastest rate among 19 European countries, expanding by 3.2% this year and 4.4% in 2024. Ireland is bucking the European trends cited in the report with total construction activity in Europe expected to fall by 1.7% in 2023 and 2.1% in 2024. One of the reasons cited for this growth is that the Government is making record State investment available for housing, with €5.1 billion committed to delivering new homes in 2024. The funding being provided, coupled with LDA and HFA investment, is the highest in history and will ensure we can continue to deliver new affordable homes, for purchase and rent, at pace.

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