1,000 new social homes delivered in first six months of 2019
More than 1,000 new social homes were delivered in the first six months of 2019.
Under Rebuilding Ireland, the government has a target of more than 6,000 for the year.
The figures were revealed in the latest quarterly Social Housing Construction Status Report, published today by Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.
The report claims that "positive progress" has been made in "advancing national Local Authority and Approved Housing Body new-build construction projects".
It also notes that a "progressively increased output is expected throughout the remainder of the year as developments in the pipeline materialise".
In the first quarter, there were 447 new builds, with a further 608 built in Q2. Of the 1,055 new builds, 315 were Part 5 units, which are homes in private developments that are required to be designated as social housing.
The report states that there are currently 6,439 social homes onsite nationwide and there are a further 8,387 units in the planning pipeline.
It also claims that activity is sharply increasing: at the end of the second quarter of 2019, there were 143 more social home schemes onsite than there had been just three months previously. Some 1,559 schemes were on site at the end of the second quarter, an increase of almost 50% from the same point a year previously.
Revising its targets, the government also claims that these schemes will now yield 22,139 homes, 8% more than initially planned.
The "strong delivery under Rebuilding Ireland" has delivered 84,147 homes since it started in 2016. This is 60.9% of the 138,000 units targeted under the five-year, €6 billion strategy.
Of the 84,000 units delivered to date, more than 60,000 have been delivered through the subsidised rental schemes HAP and RAS, not the construction of new homes.
The report notes that the government is increasing its focus on construction in the provision of new homes. Its construction target has been increased from 26,000 to 33,617, while the numbers it plans to acquire is being reduced from 11,000 to 6,830.
