Social housing programme to get €300m boost for 1,700 homes
Up to €300m is being poured into a major social housing construction programme.
It is hoped that more than 100 separate projects will be kick-started around the country through the Government's plan that is being unveiled today.
Every local authority across the country is due to get a cut of the funding that is aimed at providing 1,700 new housing units by 2017.
Some projects will only bring forward a small number of homes, but some councils in the Dublin area will use the money to fund projects of more than 50 units.
An estimated 300 jobs will also be provided in the construction phases of the developments.
Today's announcement is part of the first phase of 'direct-build' under the Government's €4bn social housing strategy, which aims to bring 35,000 housing units on stream by 2020.
The target is to bring housing waiting lists down by a quarter over the next two years.
Full details will be outlined by the Environment Minister Alan Kelly and Junior Minister with responsibility for housing Paudie Coffey later today.
