Clare County Council is one of just four local authorities that did not build any new social houses in the first nine months of 2023.
New figures show that almost seventy such units have been delivered here by Approved Housing Bodies and private developers in the same timeframe.
The Department of Housing’s latest quarterly report shows that sixty-seven Social houses were delivered here between January and September.
The majority of these, 52, were constructed by not-for-profit Approved Housing Bodies, while the remaining 15 were built by developers under Part V: Planning Obligations.
Under Part V obligations, any company building a housing development must make at least 20% of all homes available as social or affordable housing.
When attention switches to local authority new builds, Clare County Council, along with Galway City, Monaghan, and Wexford Councils, are the major outliers, having not delivered any direct-build social homes in the first nine months of the year.
In response to a query on the matter, Clare County Council insists it remains on track to exceed its ‘Housing For All’ targets over the lifetime of the plan from 2022 until 2030.
Last year, the local authority provided 184 new social homes, while a further 57 were provided by AHBs, and another 15 were built through Part V obligations.
Regarding 2023 delivery, the Council says that as of this month, 103 units are now complete, of which 26 relate to Clare County Council capital projects and directly acquired turnkey developments.
According to the Department of Housing, one of the homes acquired in Clare for social housing use this year resulted in a notice of termination being issued to an existing tenant.
Statement from Clare County Council
‘In 2022 Clare County Council (CCC) exceeded the social housing delivery target as set out under the “Housing for All” plan by providing 256 social housing units of which 121 units were from CCC own capital projects and 69 units were from directly acquired turnkey developments by CCC.
This year CCC are on track to again exceed our social housing delivery target through its own capital projects, part v and by supporting approved housing bodies who are required to provide for a minimum of 40% of all social housing units under “Housing for All” over the lifetime of the plan.
Regarding 2023 delivery, currently 103 units are complete of which 26 units relate to CCC own capital projects and directly acquired turnkey developments.
Currently it is proposed that CCC will exceed our overall social housing delivery target under “Housing for All” over the proposed lifetime of the plan and we continue to progress with our ambitious programme of social housing delivery with CCC capital projects currently under construction in Sixmilebridge and Scarriff relating to 33 units and with other projects at various stages of design, planning, tender etc having been approved by the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage.
This does not include other pipeline projects yet to be approved by the Department.
While the focus can very often be on the local authority direct build, this is but one stream of delivery in the housing programme with turnkey build, acquisitions, buy and renew, approved housing body build and acquisition, and vacant property refurbishment all additional measures which are co-ordinated, supported and delivered by the Housing team in Clare County Council to provide new homes for those on the social housing list.
The Housing for All target for Clare of 833 new homes over the period 2022 – 2026 provides for a mix of delivery streams of which Local Authority Direct Build is just one channel and also assumes a 60/40 split of that target between the Local Authority and Approved Housing Body delivery programmes.
Accordingly, the progress of the Council’s construction programme is well on target to meet and indeed exceed the required direct build numbers over the period of the Housing Delivery Action Plan. Over 400 households were allocated properties in 2022 across the various delivery streams and the Council’s pipeline over the coming years aims to ensure housing need continues to be supported through the various channels of delivery.’
