Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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260. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide an update on the measures he is taking to increase housing supply in Wexford, including social housing and affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18115/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver social, affordable and cost rental homes at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. This is demonstrated by the record level of investment which is being provided for the delivery of Housing in 2025, with overall capital funding available of €6.8 billion. The capital provision is supplemented by a further €1.65 billion in current funding to address housing need.

The number of completed new build social homes, and the number in the pipeline, continues to remain strong year-on-year, with new construction projects added to the pipeline regularly. The strongest national delivery of social housing since 1975 was recorded in 2022 when 10,254 homes were delivered and that record was exceeded again in 2023. In total in 2023, 11,938 new social homes were delivered by local authorities and AHBs, including 8,110 new-build homes, 1,829 acquisitions and 1,999 homes through leasing programmes.

Social housing construction in Wexford has progressed very well in recent years, with Wexford County Council looking set to surpass its Housing for All build targets for the period 2022 to 2024.

In addition, the latest Social Housing Construction Status Report (CSR) shows that there were 923 homes on site and at various stages of design and procurement in Wexford at the end of Quarter 3 2024. Data for the Quarter 4 2024 CSR is currently being collated. All CSRs are available at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/cb885-social-housing-construction-projects-status-reports/.

A version of the CSR file can also be downloaded for analysis by local authority, location etc. at this link: .

A central element of Housing for All is to build institutional capacity. As part of the measures to support institutional capacity, Housing for All commits to strengthen the capacity of local authorities to both programme manage and initiate, design, plan, develop and manage housing projects and recognises that this requires the resourcing of the housing services of local authorities. Following engagement between the HDCO and Wexford County Council to identify their additional staffing requirements to deliver social and affordable housing, eight additional housing posts were approved for Wexford.

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) has been identified as a key measure to address increased housing delivery and methods to support increased use of MMC are set out in Pathway 5 of Housing for All. In July 2023 the Roadmap for increased adoption of MMC in Public Housing delivery was published and sets out recommendations to progress the most advanced and efficient construction methods in the delivery of housing.

In December 2022, funding of €94m was provided to local authorities to address legacy land debts. The provision of this funding was linked to the immediate development of a housing proposal, a commitment to use Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and for construction to start in 2023 or no later than 2024. A total of 26 sites received funding as part of an accelerated delivery programme, and with some additional sites since added, my Department is overseeing a project to progress delivery of MMC projects on 36 sites which will deliver more than 1,500 new social homes across 13 local authorities.

Building on the experience of the collaborative approach undertaken to date as part of that project, Wexford County Council are currently tendering a 3D Pilot Project to develop social housing utilising offsite three dimensional construction methods. This project will see the delivery of 22 units utilising this method of construction.

My Department has embedded the requirement to adopt a standardised approach for all Social Housing projects through adoption of the Design Manual for Quality Housing and Employers Requirements. Standard internal layouts and CAD Drawings are available to design teams. This is promoting a consistent approach nationally; it is decreasing the amount of time spent on reviewing proposals to achieve value for money; it is shortening detailed design phases; and it allows for a more efficient tender process.

The Housing for All Land Acquisition Fund was established in 2022 to support local authorities to acquire land to deliver new build social housing schemes and this was extended in 2024 to include land for affordable housing. The fund, managed by the Housing Agency, has an overall allocation of €239m and is open for applications from all local authorities, including Wexford.

Last year, Government approved new national housing targets up to the year 2030. 303,000 homes will aim to be delivered in the period from 2025 to 2030, equating to an annual average of 50,500 homes, building up to 60,000 in 2030. The revised targets were informed by research and modelling by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) on population projections and long-run housing demand. The revised national housing targets will inform the revision to existing social housing targets at a local authority level. Work is ongoing in this regard.

As detailed under Housing for All, the Government plans to deliver 54,000 affordable purchase and cost rental homes by 2030. Wexford does not have a five year affordable housing delivery target but has identified localised new, affordable constrained housing need at Gorey, Enniscorthy and Wexford Town, to which it is responding.

The local authority is strongly committed to putting an effective affordable programme in place and has, since November 2022, introduced a Scheme of Priority can be accessed on the Local Authority website at www.wexfordcoco.ie/sites/default/files/content/Affordable%20Housing/Scheme%20of%20Priority.pdf

With support from the Affordable Housing Fund, 20 affordable purchase homes in Ramsfort Park, Gorey have been advertised and successful applicants have been notified. Further schemes are in development and approved for funding and will be advertised on Wexford County Council’s website and www.affordablehomes.ie in due course.

The First Home scheme is also seeing some activity in Wexford since its launch in July 2022, and will be central to the overall response to current and emerging affordability needs in Wexford and the wider South Eastern region. Since launch, Wexford County Council has issued 139 approvals to end Q3 2024.

Some 387 Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant applications have been received by Wexford County Council, with 252 approved and 52 grants paid to end of Q4 2024 with a total value of €2.8m. The grant is playing an important role in supporting the refurbishment of vacant and derelict properties, bringing them back into use as homes.

Details of social and affordable housing delivery in Wexford can be found in the comprehensive programme-level statistics published by my Department on a quarterly basis. This data is available to the end of Q3 2024, and is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/.

Significant progress is being made to deliver the ambitious targets contained in Housing for All and my Department is working closely with the local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and other stakeholders to accelerate the delivery of social and affordable housing.