Govt 'still confident' it can deliver thousands of new homes this year

The Minister for Housing has said the Government is "still confident" it can deliver thousands of new homes this year, despite the rising cost of building materials and cost of living.

Minister Darragh O'Brien said it is important to remember yesterday's Banking and Payment Federation Ireland (BPFI) report was based on the first quarter of this year, which he said was before the Government approved the inflation framework, which will see the Government pay 70% of extra inflation costs on public building projects.

The minister said this cost sharing will ensure there will be no delay in social housing stock or affordable housing stock that is due to be delivered this year.

In the report, the BPFI said that an increase in the supply of housing may be contributing to an easing in the pace of growth in property prices.

However, it warned that any easing in price growth may be offset by cost pressures in the construction sector, which will likely have a knock-on impact on house price inflation.

Mr O'Brien said inflation issues are due to the war in Ukraine, but that increased costs are levelling off.

He said he was "still confident" that 24,600 new builds will be delivered this year, but that the Government needed to be "agile" to deal with any challenges that come forward.

He said the Government's 'Housing For All' plan allows for that flexibility.

In relation to homelessness, the minister said "there is no question we are grappling with a very serious homelessness situation" and that the answer to that was to increase the supply of housing.

He said all local authorities are funded to provide accommodation with all the financial resources given to them to be able to help people if they find themselves in a homeless situation.

The are over 10,000 people in emergency accommodation across the country.

Latest figures released by the Department of Housing show that there were 10,049 people in emergency accommodation during the week of 18 to 24 April 2022.

The number of families accessing emergency accommodation during this period was 1,308.

The figure is an increase of 224 people compared to March when 9,825 individuals were homeless.