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LAST UPDATE | 12 Nov 2025
THE GOVERNMENT’S LONG-AWAITED housing plan is about “activating delivery and supporting people”, according to Housing Minister James Browne.
The report, which has been months delayed, got approved at today with the full details to be launched tomorrow morning.
Speaking on his way into Cabinet, the minister said he was not in the “forecasting game” and will be judged on his delivery, but in his view, the homeless numbers will decrease.
The number of people in emergency accommodation has increased to 16,614.
According to the latest figures from the Department of Housing, 11,376 adults and 5,238 children were in emergency accommodation in September.
Approximately 50% of people in emergency accommodation are not Irish citizens, confirmed the minister, who added that these are people who have gone through the legal route and have been granted permission to stay and work in the country.
“They have a right to be here and they have a right to housing support. But our population has been increasing significantly… that’s people coming over here to work in our health sector, work in our tech sector, we need people to support our economy and to provide the services,” he said.
“We have to understand where the crisis is if we’re going to address it,” he added, indicating that there is a need to activate preventative measures.
The minister said he did not want anybody in emergency accommodation and to resolve the issue, the government needs to understand the makeup of people who are in emergency accommodation, stating it is “absolutely crucial to us addressing it”.
At Fine Gael’s parliamentary party meeting this evening, Tánaiste Simon Harris said tomorrow’s Housing Plan has to be combined with two other Government initiatives – the National Development Plan and Infrastructure Reform.
The Fine Gael leader said Government at all levels, national and local, along with State agencies must get on top of delivering homes across every part of the country.
Harris said emergency legislation to ensure critical infrastructure, such as water, energy and transport, is delivered must be passed in early 2026.
John Cummins, Minister of State at the Department of Housing, highlighted other key actions within the plan including how local authorities will be held to account and rewarded on their delivery of homes. If local authorities meet or pass their housing targets, they will be financially rewarded by Government.
He said league tables will be published across key delivery metrics, including affordable and social homes and vacancy and dereliction, to see how each council is progressing.
Minister Cummins said there is no ceiling on delivery and all levers including local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, the LDA and crucially, the private sector, need to work in tandem to realise our ambitious housing targets.
Aside from addressing the spiralling homeless figures, the minister outlined that the Land Development Agency (LDA), which has an additional €2.5 billion in funding in its expanded role, will play a key role in delivery.
“I think an awful lot of the low hanging fruit in terms of land is pretty much now gone from the Land Development Agency. So looking at acquiring sites where the housing demand is, activating those sites to deliver a mixed tenure is absolutely crucial,” he said.
This will be a “really important part in certain parts of the country,” he added. The minister also specifically mentioned the need to deliver housing in rural Ireland, saying there is a need to activate sites in villages right across the country.
The Journal asked the minister today if the plan will outline any changes to the already existing support schemes, such as the First Home Scheme, which gives the state a shared-equity stake in the house along with the buyer.
The minister said the thresholds and the limits outlined in the scheme are always kept under review, adding that changes to those types schemes will not be announced in the plan tomorrow.
“We do keep them under review,” he said, stating that there is always a balance to be struck between meeting people’s needs within the market, but also not driving inflation of house prices.
It is expected that the Compulsory Purchase Order Bill with streamlined and strengthened CPO powers to activate underutilised land for home building will also be prioritised, with the government stating recently that they will use emergency legislation to driver deliver, if needed.
Other measures understood to be in the plan include a target of 12,000 new social homes, provisions for victims of domestic violence and more compulsory purchase orders of derelict houses are all on the cards.
The vacant property refurbishment grant is also set to be expanded to bring more vacant and derelict properties into use as homes. This will include additional grant support towards the refurbishment and conversion of ‘above the shop’ vacant floors, for use as homes.
The report, titled ‘Delivering Homes, Building Communities’, also aims to deliver 90,000 ‘starter homes’ over the next five years, which was a key promise in the programme for government. It commits to 15,000 affordable homes on average per year.
The Government failed to meet its target of 40,000 new homes last year, with pressure now heightened to get new homes built. Those in the construction industry have predicted that this year, the government will struggle to deliver homes above the low thirty thousand mark.
The plan will be launched against a backdrop of rent prices being two thirds higher than at the peak of the Celtic Tiger in 2007, and a new record of 16,614 people in emergency accommodation last month.
One notable measure includes a move to ensure there is no barrier to a household fleeing domestic violence.
A protocol will be agreed with local authorities to provide that victims of domestic violence, subject to meeting all other social housing eligibility requirements, can transfer previous time spent on a social housing waiting list to another local authority.
It is understood that women were getting stuck in the county with their abuser due to the way the system was set up in terms of the time on the housing list.
Another action point, which might be welcomed by some renters, is the proposal to remove blanket bans on pets from tenancy agreements.
It is understood Housing Minister James Browne insisted on the measure being included in the new document, which firstly seeks to ensure that Approved Housing Body (AHBs) properties – which are funded through government – cannot specify that pets are not allowed.
In recent months, the Taoiseach has been vocal about the government wanting to tackle the rising numbers of people in homelessness.
Micheál Martin said previously that the most effective way to get people out of homelessness is through social housing, stating that an expansion of schemes like Housing First, which provides housing and direct supports to people in long-term homelessness, is likely to happen.
Last year, the Government’s social housing delivery fell short of its goal of 12,930 by more than 2,300 homes – just over 18% below the target.
With reporting by Christina Finn
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