The supply of private rental apartments is going to fall significantly in the period ahead, the Housing Agency will tell an Oireachtas Committee tomorrow.
The Agency's Chief Executive Martin Whelan will inform TDs and Senators that from 2018 to 2022 institutional investment led to the delivery of 2,000 rental homes annually.
However, since 2023 there has been almost no new "forward investment deals" which means the supply of private rental apartments will fall significantly.
Last week, the Government decided that newly built apartments will no longer have a 2% rent cap and rents will instead be tied to inflation.
The move is aimed at creating "certainty" to entice investors to return to building apartments here.
The agency will also point out that local authorities are struggling to identify lands that are suitable for social housing and on the private side, few house builders outside the large institutionally backed entities have a good pipeline of ready to go sites.
While the Land Development Agency will tell the Housing Committee that over 10,000 homes will be built on its 19 "direct delivery" sites.
These are currently either in the planning or construction phase, with a further 5,000 homes planned for land which will be acquired in the coming months and years.
Direct delivery includes includes transfers of state-owned land, acquisitions of land from the private market, and the development of land owned by local authorities.
This includes sites transferred by the ESB in Wilton in Cork, by Teagasc in Kinsealy in Dublin, by the Galway Harbour Company in Galway Port, and more recently by HRI in Leopardstown.
Dáil to debate emergency housing and homelessness motion
The Dáil will tomorrow debate an opposition motion calling for emergency action to address the deepening housing and homelessness crisis.
A Raise the Roof protest will take place at the gates of the Leinster House to coincide with the motion which has the support of Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, PBP-Solidarity, several Independent TDs and the Green Party.
It is calling for a dramatic increase in public housing investment and it is seeking to have stronger taxes imposed on vacancy and dereliction.
The opposition motion wants greater protections for private renters through the freezing and cutting of rents and it warns against any changes to the Rent Pressure Zones that would increase rents.
There is also a call for the reintroduction of the ban on no fault evictions and to fully restore the Tenant in Situ scheme.
Sinn Féin's Eoin O Broin said tomorrow's protest will be the first in a series of rolling demonstrations across the country.
While Labour TD Conor Sheehan's revealed there is anecdotal evidence that landlords are hiking rents in the aftermath of the Government's reform of the Rent Pressure Zones which he described as incoherent and confusing.
