Castlehaven Finance: Social Housing Delivery in Ireland

As Ireland’s housing crisis deepens and the chronic storage of all types and tenure of housing persists, the delivery of new housing continues to dominate political and media commentary.

For our part, the Castlehaven Finance team has ramped up our financing of both private and social housing across Ireland, and you can view a selection of recently-supported projects here: https://icsh.ie/launch-of-icsh-strategic-plan-2022-2026-and-the-housing-association-activity-report-2021/

The most recently published Housing Association Activity Report shows that in excess of 9,000 social homes were provided in 2021 through partnerships between local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, or AHBs. Of these, 75 percent were newly built homes, 10 percent were acquisitions and 14 percent were leased properties.

According to data from the Irish Council for Social Housing, or ICSH, the ABH sector delivered 3,972 social and cost rental homes last year. This marks an increase of 14 percent on 2020 figures and in real terms, this has taken 3,727 households off of the local authority social housing waiting lists right across Ireland. ICSH chief executive, Dr Donal McManus, has confirmed that this is the second-highest housing delivery figure to date for the AHB sector. The organisation’s vice-president Tina Donaghy, speaking at the launch of the group’s strategic plan for 2022-2026, outlined the sector’s ambitions to double the number of homes under AHB management by 2030. Further details about the ICSH Strategic Plan 2022-2026 and the Housing Association Activity Report 2021 can be found here: https://icsh.ie/launch-of-icsh-strategic-plan-2022-2026-and-the-housing-association-activity-report-2021/

Of course, like all housing delivery, the AHB sector is not immune to current inflationary pressures and ongoing resource and supply chain challenges. CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust, Pat Doyle, has warned that social housing targets are under pressure due to this inflation and broader uncertainty in the construction industry, which he described to an Oireachtas Committee as a “perfect storm” of cost pressures.

Speak to the Castlehaven Finance team about your next project: https://www.castlehavenfinance.com/contact