Local authorities have said that the Government’s target of delivering 12,000 social homes each year is “simply not feasible” without urgent structural support.
The association representing the management of all 31 county and city councils told the Oireachtas Committee on Housing on Tuesday that scaling up delivery would require more access to suitably zoned land, higher staffing levels in local authorities and more streamlined processes to ensure there were no unnecessary delays.
Eddie Taaffe, chief executive of Wexford County Council, told the committee that local authorities have delivered 24,000 social homes since 2022. He said sustained financial support, upfront capital, and borrowing capacity to support cost-rental delivery would also be required.
The chair of the association’s housing committee said that local authorities held 560 land banks throughout the State, with capacity for 21,500 homes. However, he said that more than a quarter of those sites (28 per cent) could not proceed due to inadequate access to essential services such as water, wastewater, and electricity.
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Several members of the committee, chaired by Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) pointed out that the land banks would only cover two years of the Government’s Housing for All targets of 12,000 social homes a year. Mr Taaffe agreed with Eoin Ó Broin of Sinn Féin that councils would need to build their land banks.
On staffing, he said that housing teams within local authorities were “under severe strain” as staffing levels have not kept pace with significant additional remits and functions.
The delivery of mixed tenure – combining social, affordable and cost rental homes – was critical, he said, as they supported balanced communities. He added that they should be complemented by access to schools, healthcare and public amenities.
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Elaine Leech, director of services for housing for South Dublin County Council, said Clonburris, a sustainably built neighbourhood of 9,000 units, was a good example of a high-density housing community, with a master plan that included all essential services and amenities such as schools, shops, parks, transport links and space.
In his opening statement, Mr Taaffe also advocated more strategic use of modern methods of construction, especially 3D constructions, where the entire housing unit is wholly manufactured in the factory and then installed on site.
Asked by Séamus McGrath (Fianna Fáil) about the level of voids (or vacant properties) in the local authority stock, Mr Taaffe said that often when a property returned to the council, it could have been the first time that work was done on the house or flat for 20 years. He instanced the need for a deep retrofit, rewiring, replumbing, boiler replacement and replacing a kitchen that might not have been changed for many years
Having to do significant work on older housing stock meant that it took some time before it could be re-let.
