The roadmap to tackling the housing crisis

Writing in eolas Magazine, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Browne TD states that the Government’s new housing action plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, is the roadmap to tackling the housing crisis.

Housing remains the defining social and economic challenge of our time.

It impacts families, communities, our workforce, and our national competitiveness. That is why the Government’s new housing action plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities reaffirms the delivery of homes as the number one priority for every arm of Government, national and local, and sets out a clear, ambitious, and realistic path to deliver the homes people need.

The plan sets a target to deliver at least 300,000 new homes by 2030. Let us be clear; this is a floor, not a ceiling. If we can deliver more, we will. Because increased supply is the single most effective way to moderate price growth, improve affordability, tackle homelessness, and allow more people to put down roots in communities.

Is that 300,000 figure ambitious? Yes, it is, but I believe that it is possible. If we are focused and determined enough to use every single lever at our disposal across government departments, local authorities, agencies, NGOs, and the private sector.

“Activating supply means removing the structural barriers that have slowed housing delivery for too long and caused barriers in planning, infrastructure, land availability, regulation, skills, and finance.”

Fortunately, we have a firm base of recent progress to build on. Under Housing for All, over 137,000 new homes were built, 44,000 social homes delivered, and nearly 16,900 affordable supports provided, including more than 4,500 cost rental homes, a tenure type that did not even exist five years ago. These achievements give us a strong foundation.

However, now we must do more, and we must do it faster and at greater scale.

So how will we do that? Well, our new plan is laser-focused on two key pillars: activating supply and supporting people.

Activating supply

Activating supply means removing the structural barriers that have slowed housing delivery for too long and caused barriers in planning, infrastructure, land availability, regulation, skills, and finance.

Activating supply also involves the largest public capital investment programme in the history of the State. Over the next decade, €275 billion will be invested, ensuring delivery of the infrastructure needed for housing.

To ensure this investment translates into actual homes on the ground, the Government has established the Housing Activation Office. It is up and running and already engaging with all local authorities and industry. Its task is this: identify and remove blockages so land can be activated and homes can be built without delay.

Indeed, recently, through our €1 billion Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund to support direct investment in housing infrastructure, the Housing Activation Office sought applications from projects to get much needed infrastructure built quickly. I want short, sharp, and shovel-ready projects that demonstrate how they will activate housing or it will not be funded.

We are also reforming the planning system through the implementation of the Planning and Development Act 2024, providing certainty, clearer timelines, and better outcomes. A revised National Planning Framework has already allowed the zoning of significantly more land.

Across government, the work of the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce will work alongside these measures to ensure there is a pipeline of zoned, serviced land in place to support housing delivery over the lifetime of this plan.

Much of our challenge in growing supply lies in the number of blockages and obstacles to the viability of much needed projects. To boost viability, especially for apartments – this government has introduced a suite of complementary measures, including tax incentives, that could reduce the delivery cost of apartments by up to €160,000 per unit, unlocking developments that were stalled only months ago.

Additionally, our new Residential Tenancies Bill, once enacted, will provide stronger encouragement for apartment building by balancing greater certainty for landlords with stronger protections for tenants.

Increasing skills and capacity is also essential. That is why we are doubling investment in Enterprise Ireland’s Built to Innovate programme, supporting the adoption of modern methods of construction, and ensuring at least 25 per cent of social and affordable homes will use these faster, more efficient building techniques.

“Delivering Homes, Building Communities recognises that we must both increase supply of housing and tackle the root causes of homelessness to be successful”.

And to support SME builders, the backbone of housing delivery in many areas, the Government has approved €400 million in ISIF equity investment for homebuilding and €200 million more for Home Building Finance Ireland.

Our housing action plan is targeting any of those obstacles that are slowing or blocking delivery and ensuring that the way is clear for building to proceed at pace and scale.

That is only one half of the story.

Supporting people

The second pillar of our plan, supporting people, will ensure that the homes we build meet the needs of all our people.

Homelessness, particularly child homelessness, remains one of the most urgent issues facing the State and it is one which I personally am determined to significantly reduce. It is not acceptable.

Delivering Homes, Building Communities recognises that we must both increase supply of housing and tackle the root causes of homelessness to be successful.

In our new plan, we reaffirm our commitment to work towards ending homelessness by 2030. We also will implement a child and family homelessness action plan, design and implement a homelessness prevention framework, and provide an additional €100 million in capital funding in 2026 to help families exit emergency accommodation.

The most powerful tool we have to tackle homelessness, however, is the delivery of social housing. Over the lifetime of the plan, we will provide 72,000 new build social homes and provide 90,000 affordable supports. This year alone, over €9 billion in capital funding will support social and affordable delivery through the exchequer, the LDA and the Housing Finance Agency.

We are also tackling vacancy and dereliction head-on: through the expanded Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant, the extended Living City Initiative, and a new Derelict Sites Tax. These measures will bring thousands of homes back into use, revitalising our villages, towns, and cities.

Finally, the plan recognises the changing needs of our population. An action plan for housing for older people will support rightsizing options and increase the delivery of suitable homes. Funding for the enhanced Housing Adaptation Grant for Older People and Disabled People has been increased to €130 million, and investment in Traveller-specific accommodation will rise to €34 million in 2026.

There is no magic bullet to solve the housing crisis, but there is a variety of solutions which, taken together, can create the momentum we need to build more, build better, and build faster. That is why Delivering Homes, Building Communities is not a single programme or a single policy. It is a collective national effort which is long-term, collaborative, and ambitious.

We have record investment, we know what needs to be done, and we have a shared belief that every person in this country deserves the security of a place to call home. All it takes now to succeed is the drive and will to implement the plan we have. As Minister for Housing, I will be daily focused on delivery. Impatient with both myself and others, I will be driving progress across both pillars of our plan and I will be determined that we do not miss any opportunity to push progress further.

I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge ahead. But in Delivering Homes, Building Communities we have a clear plan, the resources to deliver it, and a shared determination to succeed.

James Browne TD is the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. He has been a Fianna Fáil TD for Wexford since 2016.