Aim to provide Dublin with 2,700 social homes by end of 2017

Almost 2,700 new homes will be provided in Dublin city over the next two years through social housing building schemes to take people off the city council’s housing list.

In response to the Government's new social housing strategy, Dublin City Council has set out details of all housing projects which will be undertaken by the council and housing associations up to to the end of 2017.

The Government has committed to spend €3.8 billion to provide 35,000 social housing units nationally over the next five years. The strategy has been split into two phases, with a target of 18,000 by the end of 2017 and 17,000 by the end of 2020.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said it would be working with each local authority to determine how many units could be provided on a county by county level.

More homes

However, Dublin City Council has already drafted its list. It details planned projects and is not exhaustive the council said, as it hopes more homes will be provided, particularly through developers’ obligation to provide social housing as part of their estates.

Of the 2,697 homes planned for the city almost two thirds (1,722) will be built by the council or approved housing bodies, 591 will be acquired through the National Assets Management Agency (Nama) or developers, and 384 will be refurbished vacant council housing .

There is almost an even split between what the local authority and housing bodies will provide. The council has plans for 1,375 homes, of which 755 will be newly-built and 236 will be acquired, along with the refurbished units.

Six schemes

Some 15 housing bodies will provide 1,322 homes, but will build more than the council at 967 , with 355 acquired, mostly through Nama.

The housing bodies taking on the most projects are Clúid, the State's largest association, which hopes to complete six schemes by the end of 2017, and Nabco, the co-operative building association which plans five developments.

The largest single project is from Oaklee Housing Trust at Jamestown Road in Finglas where 164 new homes are planned.

More than one in five homes are already under construction and likely to be completed “very quickly” the council said. It is responsible for 242 of these, most it is building itself, with just 24 acquired from a private development. Approved housing bodies have 342 units under construction, of which 93 are being provided by Nama.

The next group of 697 homes (459 council and 228 housing body units ) are at an advanced stage of planning and are awaiting final approval by the department or city councillors. The final group is the largest, with 752 housing body units and 290 council homes still at the preparatory stage, but the council said it hopes construction will start early next year.