Housing for Some? Review of the new Housing Strategy

The Government has published its long-awaited housing strategy – Housing for All – with a budget of €20 billion over the next five years.

Housing for All consists of four pathways:

• Supporting homeownership and increasing affordability;
• Eradicating homelessness, increasing social housing delivery and supporting social inclusion;
• Increasing new housing supply; and
• Addressing vacancy and efficient use of existing stock.

The Overall Targets set out in the Strategy provide for 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable homes, 18,000 cost rental homes and 156,000 private homes. This seems ambitious, however these targets set to 2030 – a ten year term – while the funding is guaranteed for half that time.

The targets are also based on a Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) of 32,700 new homes, without any reference to the backlog built over a more than a decade of under-provision.

There is much to welcome in the Strategy, however fundamental flaws in the targets for social housing and overall construction; a lack of real measures to prevent homelessness; and a continuation of subsidies such as Help to Buy and HAP raise questions as to who will really benefit. Our Review of the Housing for All Strategy is available now.