It’s no secret that Ireland is facing its worst housing crisis ever. Best estimates say we are 250,000 homes short of where we need to be to provide adequate housing levels for all. In this article, we will be looking at the different measures that have been introduced to help tackle the situation.
Renovation Grant Increase
Renovation grants were introduced in 2022 with two parts to the grant. The first grant was a payment of €30,000 which is for the refurbishment of a vacant home. The second part of the grant is an additional €20,000, this was reserved for properties that were considered derelict. In total a derelict home would be eligible for both parts of the grant, so would-be-homeowners could take up to €50,000 in funding to renovate and restore their property.
Now it looks that the criteria and funding available for renovation is set to increase. From May, the grant scheme will be expanded to include homes which were built before 2007. At the moment it only applies to homes built before 1993.
Long-term rental properties will also be eligible for grants under the changes. At the moment, the scheme just covers homes which are occupied by the owner and are their main residence.
Construction Subsidies
Another major issue contributing to the housing crisis is the sheer volume of approved planning applications that have not yet commenced construction. Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Martin Heydon commented that Construction subsidies needed to be introduced to get development moving.
“What we will see coming to Cabinet this week is improved finance around incentivising people with vacant and derelict buildings, we have significant numbers of apartment blocks that have planning permission but haven’t been built, are in limbo, they’re going to need a subsidy to be subsidised for a short limited period of time to get them built.” – Martin Heydon
Government Incentives
Another measure being taken is the increase of finance to support incentivising owners of derelict or vacant properties to bring the property up to standard and place for sale or rent.
Another government incentive is scrapping development levies, this will hopefully kick start a lot of the projects that have had planning permission granted but are ultimately sat in limbo.
Housing-For-All
The Housing for all scheme is the Government’s ultimate defence against the housing crisis. Under the scheme, it pledges to build on average of 33,000 new properties per annum. It has an approved budget of €20 Bn to be spread over the next 5 years.
The plan is broken down into different sub-sections for each demographic ranging from social housing and homelessness to first-time buyers and people who are starting again.
According to the CSO, in 2022 a total of 29,851 new buildings were constructed which was in line with the Government’s target.
In 2023 it is estimated that a further 27,000 properties will be built under the scheme. The properties will be a mix of social housing, rental properties and purchasable homes.
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