Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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248. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to expand and accelerate the construction of social and affordable housing in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22120/25]

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.

Data on social and affordable housing delivery is collated at local authority level. The latest Social Housing Construction Status Report (CSR) shows that 10,614 social homes are currently onsite with an additional 13,996 homes at design and tender stage at the end of Quarter 4 2024. 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 this, 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. Additional posts were approved for Kerry County Council following engagement between the HDCO and the Council to identify their additional staffing requirements to deliver social (10 posts) and affordable housing (one post).

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 and a commitment to use Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). 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. Kerry has 4 sites in the programme that will deliver over 160 social homes.

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 has an overall allocation of €239m and is managed by the Housing Agency.

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.

Last year, Government approved new national housing targets up to the year 2030. The aim is to deliver 303,000 homes 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, which was published during the summer. The revised national housing targets will inform the revision to existing social and affordable housing targets at a local authority level. Work is ongoing in this regard.

All local authorities, including Kerry County Council, have developed and published their Housing Delivery Action Plans setting out their plans to deliver social and affordable housing during the period from 2022-2026. This follows a comprehensive Housing Needs and Demand Assessment. A copy of Kerry County Council’s Housing Delivery Action Plan is available on its website at the following link: www.kerrycoco.ie/housing-delivery-programme/

The Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) is available to all local authorities to assist towards the cost of developing affordable housing at locations where significant affordability needs have been identified. My Department met with the Housing Delivery team in Kerry County Council in December 2024 to support their work towards the identification and development of appropriate proposals which may lead to the delivery of affordable housing with the support of the AHF in response to localised needs identified by the local authority at key urban locations such as Killarney and Tralee. In addition, the First Home Scheme supports first-time buyers in purchasing new houses and apartments in the private market through the use of an equity share model, similar to that employed in the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme. Further, since September 2023, the First Home Scheme now supports those who wish to build their own home. The scheme is available nationwide and more information can be found on the First Home Scheme website.

Other measures such as the Local Authority Home Loan, the Local Authority Purchase and Renovation Scheme, the Help to Buy Incentive, the Ready to Build scheme, and the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant are also available nationwide to help make home ownership more affordable.

My Department, the Housing Agency and Housing Delivery Co-ordination Office of the Local Government Management Association continue to be available to assist Kerry County Council in relation to ongoing development of its response to meeting affordable housing needs in Kerry.

My Department publishes comprehensive programme-level statistics on a quarterly basis on social and affordable housing delivery activity by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in each local authority. This data is available to the end of Q4 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/