The Minister also reported that over 4,000 affordable homes were delivered last year.
The announcement came as the Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage today published its social and affordable housing delivery statistics for Quarter 4 2023 showing very strong delivery for social housing in the final quarter of last year as has been typical in previous years.
Social Housing
In 2023, 11,939 new social homes were delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, including 8,110 new-build homes, 1,830 acquisitions and 1,999 homes through leasing programmes.
This is an increase of 16.33% on 2022 when 10,263 social homes were delivered. This represents the highest level of delivery of new-build social housing in half a century.
When the Housing Assistance Payment (8,292) and Rental Accommodation Scheme (1,542) are added, 21,773 social housing supports were delivered in 2023.
As is traditional, much of the delivery for 2023 was done so in the final quarter of the year. The figures show that 7,132 new social homes were delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies in Quarter 4, including 5,472 new-build homes, 801 acquisitions and 859 homes delivered through leasing programmes. The figures represent the strongest national delivery of social housing since the mid-1970s. Including Housing Assistance Payment (2,029) and Rental Accommodation Scheme (442) 9,603 housing supports were delivered in Quarter 4.
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The delivery pipeline for the future also looks strong with the latest Construction Status Report showing that 7,089 social homes were onsite at end Q4 2023 and an additional 15,448 homes at design and tender stage. Indeed, underlining the momentum, in Quarter 4 2023 190 new construction schemes (4,185 homes) were added to the pipeline.
The Department has also published the Construction Status Report (CSR) for Q4 2023 today. The CSR provides scheme-level detail on new-build social housing activity and is published on the Department's website. This is sorted by local authority, and gives a list of the individual projects that make up the new build programme for that local authority (excluding LA Part V delivery).
Welcoming this performance, Minister O'Brien said: "It is clear that the momentum we could see building last year has continued and intensified. In 2022, we were able to hail the best social housing provision since the ‘70s and in 2023 we performed even better with a 16% increase in the number of homes delivered. I know that today we are talking about the numbers but behind these figures lies the fact that this delivery is providing valuable life-changing support to tens of thousands of our citizens and I intend to keep this momentum going.
"Last year's increases were driven by the fact that my Department has worked closely with the local government sector, directly with local authorities and through the County and City Management Association (CCMA) and the LGMA's Housing Delivery Coordination Office (HDCO). This has enabled us to identify blockages in the system that we have worked hard to systematically remove around areas such as funding for additional staff, enhancements to the approvals process and legacy debt issues. It is now clear to see where those efforts have started to materialise into delivery at the scale that is required.
"The initial acquisition target we set ourselves of 200 was revised upwards to 1,500 in March 2023 and I am pleased to say that was exceeded by 22% meaning thousands of people, families and individuals, are safe and secure in their home for live.
"Undoubtedly different local authorities face different challenges and it is clear that there is no one-size-fits all solution. For that reason, engagement and ongoing collaboration have been key to getting us to where we are now. Maintaining this will also be critical to our efforts to realise the ambitious overall Housing for All targets that were originally set out in 2021 - as well as our collective ability to respond to increased targets that we know are coming."
