More work and innovation needed to help combat the housing shortage in Ireland
Whilst the National Paediatric Hospital in Dublin is the most well-known construction project in Ireland at the moment, one suspects that housing affordability and availability will be the foremost issue for the construction industry given its political and social cohesion implications. Of course, sustainability and climate change impact will be a feature in all construction projects for the next few decades.
The Irish Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage published "Housing for All- A New Housing Plan for Ireland" in September 2021, updated in December 2021. In the above paper, the Department estimated that Ireland would need an average of 33,000 new homes each year from 2021 to 2030. Breaking that down further the Department estimated 4,000 homes for affordable purchase would be needed annually, 2,000 "cost rental" homes, and 10,000 new social homes annually. Furthermore, the homelessness crisis targets 1,200 new occupancy units up to 2027.
The number of housing units built in 2016 in Ireland is estimated by the Construction Industry Federation at 10,000 units, whereas the Central Statistics Office released the figure of 29,851 residential units being completed in 2022. Whilst this increase is to be commended and appears to be getting the country closer to the average needed, the CIF cautioned at an Oireachtas (Parliament) Committee hearing in June 2023:
"Over the last number of years this housing output took place on lands that were zoned in previous plans and in many instances had [already] been serviced with critical infrasture such as Water, Wastewater, Electricity, Roads, Public Transport, etc.
…we are now entering a much more difficult phase of housing provision. ….In many locations there is a lack of forward planning for infrastructure or a delayed provision that is essential to the delivery of new homes."
The Government has made several announcements of support for more housing, such as the extension of the Help to Buy Scheme in September 2022 and the reduction in development contribution scheme charges and water connection charges in April 2023. The concrete levy to support green initiatives has been reduced from 10% to 5% and implementation delayed until September 2023.
The National Competiveness and Productivity Council warned in early May 2023 that the current housing shortage is the most serious of the infrastructure issues undermining Ireland's competitiveness which in turns undermines employment and living standards. So whilst recent gains are encouraging more work and innovation are needed to meet the needs of Ireland. The construction and design industry will no doubt do its part.
