Some €436 million in funding for the acquisition of second-hand social housing and the construction of more than 1,300 new social homes has been announced by Minister for Housing James Browne.
The bulk of the funding announced on Monday (€325 million) has been allocated to support second-hand acquisitions in 2025.
Under revised arrangements, local authorities will be able to target funding available for acquisitions at their discretion “whether on tenant-in-situ purchases or other purchases,” according to the Department of Housing.
A spokesman for the Department of Housing said although families with children, older people or those with disabilities are to be prioritised under the tenant-in-situ scheme, “no household is excluded”.
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“The relevant local authority will make the decisions based on need and priorities locally,” he said.
Local councillors have repeatedly called for certainty surrounding this year’s funding for the scheme as local authorities could not make decisions without it.
Announcing the funding on Monday, Mr Browne said 7,000 second-hand social homes have been acquired since 2020 costing €2 billion, adding that the Government’s commitment “couldn’t be clearer” with the extension of the acquisition programme into 2025.
The remaining €111 million, which has been pledged to support 82 new social housing projects to deliver 1,325 homes, has been allocated from the €450 million for social and affordable housing previously announced.
The total cost value of the projects – which aim to deliver all homes from 2025 to 2027, 575 of which will be delivered this year, according to the department – is €517 million.
The 82 projects will see new social homes delivered across 21 counties, including 542 in Dublin and 234 in Cork.
Reacting to the announcement, Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin calculated the amount allocated to five separate funding streams for social and affordable housing this year was less than the amount spent in 2024.
Assuming the €436 million is additional to €2.277 billion for social and affordable housing set out in the Government’s revised estimates for 2025, Mr Ó Broin noted a €104 million reduction.
“While the Government will try and dress today’s announcement up as an increase in funding for social and affordable housing, what it actually confirms is that the level of funding has been cut for this year compared to last year,” he said.
However, a spokesman for the department claimed Mr Ó Broin’s comparison of spending with allocations, “is fundamentally misleading”.
The total capital spend for 2024 was €3.6 billion, he said, while the total voted allocation for 2025 is €3.1 billion.
“An additional €715 million has already been provided in 2025 giving a total of €3.8 billion. As it currently stands, allocated funds are approximately €200 million greater this year than the entire spend for 2024,” he said.
Mr Ó Broin said the question is whether five specific funding streams for social and affordable housing have less allocated funding this year, adding the question could be “very easily” clarified by publishing the updated allocations.
“However, based on the information in the public domain to date it appears that these funding streams for local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to deliver social and affordable housing have less funding in 2025 that was spent in 2024,” he said.
