Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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808. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to address the increasing number of prospective house buyers turning to social housing due to affordability concerns (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29681/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Increasing the supply of new homes is critical to alleviating pressures in the housing market. In this regard, supply has increased significantly over the last five years, with almost 140,000 new homes delivered since the beginning of 2020.

From the launch of Housing for All to the end of Q4 2024, nearly 13,000 affordable housing supports have been delivered alongside schemes such as the First Home Scheme, the Cost Rental Tenant-in-Situ Scheme and, the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant. These supports include the delivery of more than 3,800 Cost Rental homes in the same period.

In 2024 alone, more than 7,100 affordable supports were delivered, the highest annual delivery to date. We also extended the Help-to-Buy Scheme, which has seen more than 54,500 approvals, and approved an additional €30 million State commitment to the First Home Scheme.

Government aims to build on this considerable progress in the coming years. To this end, the Programme for Government commits to delivering 300,000 new homes between 2025 and 2030, including an average of 15,000 starter homes per annum over the period. This increase in supply will help moderate house price increases further, secure greater affordability in the housing market, and help those aspiring to homeownership to realise this goal.

The Government is already implementing actions to help boost delivery in the immediate term. The recently revised National Planning Framework is a major step forward in this regard, and will help increase capacity and accelerate home building across the country. At the same time, the new Housing Activation Office will help identify and address barriers to the delivery of vital public infrastructure projects needed to enable greater housing development.

Further measures to help scale-up delivery, and help those seeking to do so to achieve independence in the housing market, will be considered in the context of the new national housing plan, which Government aims to publish in the coming months.