The Government’s housing targets are “not high enough”, Kieran Cuddihy has said. 

Under the Housing For All plan, the Government wants 33,000 new units built every year on average up until 2030. 

Officials expect the 2022 target of 24,600 homes has been met but Kieran believes that figure is not ambitious enough. 

“There’s two things I think we need to try and keep in mind throughout all of these conversations - there’s the human cost and then there’s the basic facts that can’t be spun away,” he told listeners of The Hard Shoulder. 

“Some of those basic facts are things like the homeless figures - over 11,700 are homeless in this country. 

“Nearly 3,500 of them are kids [and] that doesn’t count the hidden homeless. 

“There were about 4,500 eviction notices that are due to fall in April, May and June of this year. 

“So, 4,500 families are going to be looking for somewhere to stay and they’re going to be looking in an ever decreasing market because there’s 43,000 fewer rental homes in Ireland compared to five years ago. 

“In the next five years, a quarter of the landlords left say they want to sell their property. 

“All that means is the average rent in Dublin is €2,300. 

“So, those are some of the undeniable facts that can’t be spun away.” 

PRTT4F Carrigaline, Cork, Ireland. 10th August 2017. New development of 800 homes presently under construction in Carrigaline Co. Cork.

The construction sector has been described as heading for “serious trouble” because of inflation and the expectation is that the number of new homes completed will drop in the coming years. 

“We’re about a quarter of a million houses short of what the stock should be in this country,” Kieran continued. 

“We should be building between 50 and 60 thousand every single year - 30,000 is the target in Housing For All. 

“We hit that target last year - we came close to it - we might come close this year. 

“The signs are though that in 2024 we might come up short and that things are slowing down. 

“We’re starting off behind, our targets are not high enough to reach where we need to get to and we’re not going to hit those targets in the next few years. 

“So, that’s the facts the people can’t spin away.”

Main image: Kieran Cuddihy