Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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65. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the new measures contained in the housing plan to activate the SME builder developer sector to build more good quality homes for people to buy. [65688/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Delivering Homes, Building Communities, is Ireland’s new national housing plan. It is a wide-ranging action plan focused on housing supply and targeting homelessness. The Plan aims to create the conditions needed to increase private investment and development to support the delivery of 300,000 homes. This includes the provision of more zoned land, providing more housing-related infrastructure, reforming the planning system, measures to address viability and improving access to finance to support the residential construction sector. The Plan also encourages and supports the development of the SME homebuilder sector directly in a number of ways.

To improve access to equity finance, the Plan commits to a new €400 million equity risk capital investment programme for homebuilding over the next three years.

To ensure that Home Building Finance Ireland has the capacity to provide finance to homebuilders across the country, particularly SME homebuilders, Government has committed a further €200 million of additional external funding.

To increase SME participation and competition in public procurement, a new national procurement strategy will be introduced.

To support the growth of SME homebuilders, the Land Development Agency will actively seek to engage the sector in the roll out of its regional programme of work.

Enterprise Ireland will also double overall investment in SME firms in the residential construction sector, under its Built to Innovate programme, to drive adoption of efficient construction practices and the use of MMC.

They will also introduce a tailored training and mentorship programme on Strategic Financial Leadership to assist with financial management in ambitious SMEs.

Additionally, I will establish a contractor-led renewal programme which will afford opportunities for local trades-persons and contractors to work with local authorities and AHBs to tackle vacancy and dereliction and I intend to expand the Ready to Build Scheme, opening it up to SME homebuilders.

Taken together, this action will create the conditions for the expansion of private sector activity, particularly SMEs.

Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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66. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plan to support single persons through Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030. [65790/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Affordability and the chance to own a home is at the heart of Government’s housing policy, as embodied within the new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025 – 2030.

In recent years, Government has introduced several schemes to help people to buy or rent homes, supported by Housing for All. Since 2021, close to 16,900 supports nationwide have been provided via these measures. Under Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025 – 2030, these supports will be retained, streamlined and expanded to form a Starter Homes Programme to ensure that first time buyers and renters in need of support, are supported by Government.

Single adult households account for around two thirds of households on social housing waiting lists and this proportion is steadily increasing. Studios and one-bedroom apartments provide much needed housing options for these households. In addition to significantly increasing the supply of social homes, the new housing plan will deliver an appropriate mix of house types and sizes, which will ensure that the needs of all social housing qualified households can be met.

To this end, local authorities will be required to develop new Housing Delivery Action Plans (HDAP's), setting out details of both social and affordable housing delivery to 2030. The intent is that these HDAP's will include information relating to the number of one bed homes each local authority intends to deliver, in line with local need.

Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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68. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the specific steps he is taking as part of the Government’s new housing plan to reduce the number of single adults in long term homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65671/25]

Catherine Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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124. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the key measures to tackle homeless under Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025 - 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65542/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 68 and 124 together.

Supporting individuals and families experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness is a priority for my Department and Government.

Our new housing plan, ‘Delivering Homes, Building Communities: An Action Plan on Housing Supply and Targeting Homelessness’ is an integrated housing and homelessness plan. The new plan is based on two key pillars: activating the supply of 300,000 more homes; and supporting people to have a home of their own.

Increased supply is key to addressing homelessness. Government is focused on making sure that everyone has access to good quality, affordable and secure homes that suit their needs. Over €9 billion in capital funding will be made available for housing in 2026.

Our new Plan recognises that homelessness is the single most pressing social issue that we face and introduces a number of key measures to address homelessness.

Prevention of homelessness in the first instance is an absolute priority. There are many preventions initiatives already underway in my own Department and across Government. This includes the provision of social and affordable housing, HAP and homeless HAP, and our strong tenancy protection legislation. In order to ensure a fully aligned all-of-Government approach under the Plan, we are committing to develop a national Homelessness Prevention Framework within which homelessness can be prevented in a structured and planned way with tailored prevention measures for each potential at risk cohort. This Framework will be in place in 2026.

Addressing family homelessness is a key priority for Government. Our new housing plan commits to the development of a Child and Family Homelessness Action Plan. This will bring together key stakeholders to drive the continued focus on preventing children and families entering emergency accommodation, providing enhanced supports for children experiencing homelessness, as well as measures to accelerate exits and reduce the time spent by children and their families in homeless emergency accommodation.

The Plan also provides dedicated capital funding of €100 million which will be ring-fenced to support local authorities to acquire properties to tackle long-term homelessness. It will be used specifically to acquire suitable units to exit families the longest in emergency accommodation and for Housing First, units for individuals with complex needs experiencing homelessness.

Housing First is a key policy response in our efforts to reduce homelessness amongst our most

vulnerable individuals. A key initiative under this Plan will be the further expansion of the Housing First programme to create 2,000 tenancies. An updated implementation plan will specify targets for each local authority for Housing First tenancies in the coming months.

The Plan also recognises that individuals experiencing homelessness with complex supports needs often become entrenched in emergency homeless services. Under the Plan, the Department of Health will provide increased health support to households experiencing homelessness through the implementation of the HSE National Strategic Plan to Improve the Health of People Experiencing Homelessness.

Budget 2026 provides a total allocation of €563.5m to address homelessness. This includes €513.5m in current funding to ensure local authorities can provide sufficient emergency accommodation as well as essential related services including Housing First supports, homelessness prevention supports, day services, and tenancy sustainment measures. Additionally, €50 million in capital funding will allow local authorities to invest in the provision of local authority or NGO owned emergency accommodation facilities, developing a more sustainable approach to the delivery of emergency accommodation and ensuring that services are tailored for the needs of clients.