Delivering Homes, Building Communities: The Next Phase of Ireland’s Housing Journey

Housing delivery remains the defining issue shaping Ireland’s national discourse in 2025. Resolving the housing crisis continues to dominate government policy, budget allocations, and development priorities. Despite the many challenges highlighted over the past decade, one of the most notable positives this year has been the focused policy shift led by Minister James Browne, who engaged directly with homebuilders and funders to identify practical levers for stimulating supply. I believe that some of the targeted measures introduced by the Department of Housing have the potential to deliver more meaningful housing supply by 2030 and beyond.

• VAT reductions on apartment sales, as outlined in Budget 2026, should help unlock viability for schemes that private developers have struggled to deliver in recent years.
• Proposed changes to rent control from March next year aim to create a more predictable framework for investors. I’m optimistic this will attract more funders back to the Irish market and stimulate additional supply.
• Amendments to apartment standards, intended to address design and cost barriers that rendered many projects unviable, could have been consequential. While these changes are now mired in an inevitable and exhausting judicial review, the intention was right. We await clarity on whether the proposed workaround can be implemented.

These measures, together with broader initiatives unveiled in Budget 2026 and laid out in the latest housing plan, ‘Delivering Homes, Building Communities’, underscore a more focused, collaborative approach to addressing housing issues.

Capital is Not the Impediment

Crucially, Ireland has the capital to back these ambitions, with significant allocations announced this year. Some of the key capital allocations this year include a €200 million boost for HBFI to target lending to small and medium sized developers, €400 million in equity risk capital for ISIF to support homebuilders and funders, €500 million for the Urban Development and Regeneration Fund, and a substantial €2.5 billion allocation to the Land Development Agency, to underpin the rollout of more social and affordable housing at scale. This level of funding and new initiatives is relatively unprecedented.  

Delivering Homes Building Communities

I attended the stakeholder meeting at the Department of the Taoiseach on November 13th for the launch of the latest housing plan, where a key point was reiterated: despite shortcomings to policy over the last decade, under Housing for All, successive coalition governments have delivered 137,000 new-build homes between 2021 and 2025. ‘Delivering Homes Building Communities’ reiterates an ambitious target, 300,000 homes by 2030, including 72,000 social and 90,000 affordable homes. While this target will be a challenge, there is momentum behind social and affordable completions which I expect will continue, particularly with the Land Development Agency playing an increasingly central and active role.

Some Encouraging Market Signals

There are already at least some encouraging signs, we are starting to see some developers reassess options on sites previously deemed unviable while, equally encouraging is the story that some of Ireland’s largest developers have identified large tracts of land in South Dublin with potential for rezoning, reportedly capable of accommodating up to 14,500 homes. Emergency powers to tackle vexatious judicial reviews would be a welcome next step. These remain a critical hurdle for both housing and infrastructure delivery.

The Road Ahead is Paved with Good Intentions

Of course, there is still a long road ahead on Ireland’s housing journey, and I can almost hear the raised eyebrows from readers reacting to the more upbeat tone of this article. But as one stakeholder (non-government) remarked at the Department of the Taoiseach meeting in November, the scale of plans, incentives, and capital Ireland has mobilised to address housing undersupply is in fact the envy of many European countries. That perspective matters.

Infrastructure: The Next Critical Challenge

Housing delivery cannot succeed without infrastructure. The government has earmarked €28.2 billion in exchequer funding for water, ESB, EirGrid, and transport, alongside the support of the Housing Activation Office to accelerate enabling works. Yet infrastructure provision remains a huge challenge, with water capacity highlighted repeatedly during the year as a critical constraint.

Some Cause for Optimism

Infrastructure delivery and investment, along with reform of judicial review processes, have now emerged as the core impediments to resolving Ireland’s housing crisis. Despite recent setbacks in critical infrastructure delivery, the clear intent demonstrated by policymakers throughout this year gives me at least a measure of optimism for the next five years.