Skip to main content

Housing Policy

Policy Objective

The overall objective of housing policy is to "enable every household to have available an affordable dwelling of good quality, suited to its needs, in a good environment and as far as possible at the tenure of its choice". The general principle underpinning the housing objective is that those who can afford to provide for their housing needs should do so either through home ownership or private rented accommodation and that targeted supports should be available to others having regard to the nature of their need. 

Row of Houses 2


Current Policy

The Housing Policy Framework – Building Sustainable Communities (December 2005)  set out the Government’s vision for housing policy over the coming years. The key objective outlined in the policy framework is to build sustainable communities, and to meet individual accommodation needs in a manner that facilitates and empowers personal choice and autonomy.

Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life.  They are safe and inclusive, well-planned, built and run, offer equality of opportunity and good services for all. 

This present policy statement - Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities published  in February, 2007 provides greater detail on the actions required if the goals in the Framework document are to be achieved.  It presents a vision for the future for housing. It is a companion to the National Development Plan 2007-2013: Transforming Ireland – A Better Quality of Life for All, which provides the resources for required investment and the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion  which  focuses particularly on social inclusion issues.

The broad approach to housing set out in the Housing Policy Framework – Building Sustainable Communities has been endorsed and elaborated by the social partners in Towards 2016.  The fundamental aim is to develop the Irish housing sector over the next ten years, by delivering more and better quality housing responses and by doing this in a more strategic way focused on the building of sustainable communities.  This aim is grounded in an expansive view of housing and its positive potential in contributing to overall social and economic well-being. 

For general information on Housing Policy (Objectives, Key Strategies etc) please refer to the Department's latest Statement of Strategy.

Towards 2016  - the ten year strategic framework for economic and social development reflects significant commitments in the housing area.  As well as endorsing the policy approach set out in the Housing Policy Framework, the agreement reflects a desire to transform Irish housing services over the coming decade by improving the quality of housing as well as expanding provision of housing supports.

This document can be found at  http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=181&docID=2755
(See Section 13, pages 27 & 28)

 Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities- Design Guidelines

Social and Affordable Housing Action Plans 2004-2008

Review of Action Plans

Public Private Partnerships

Housing Schemes

National Development Plan 2007-2013

New Housing Design Guidelines

National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016



Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities- Design Guidelines

These design guidelines are intended to assist in the implementation of the policies as set out in Delivering Homes Sustaining Communities, launched in February 2007, and that of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's National Spatial Stragety 2002 - 2020 and the National Development Plan.

The Design Guidelines are available to the right of your screen under Publications & Documents.

 

Social and Affordable Housing Action Plans 2004-2008

Multi-annual Action Plans have been prepared by local authorities for the provision of social and affordable housing for the period 2004-2008.  These have been approved by the Department and are designed to assist local authorities in identifying priority needs over the coming years and providing a coherent and co-ordinated response across all housing services, including delivery of housing by the voluntary and co-operative housing sector.

Review of Action Plans

A mid-term review of the Action Plans is currently being finalised and has facilitated a reflection of all aspects of the first two years of the plan in terms of achievements and the remainder of the plan in light of developments. Amongst the recommendations arising from the review are that Action Plans should be put on a statutory basis to recognise their importance as a tool for planning housing provision.

The Department has already met with local authorities in February and March 2007 in relation to implementation of their housing programmes for the remainder of the Action Plan period, as well as examining indicative targets for 2009. These bi-lateral meetings provide an important forum for both the Department and local authorities in terms of identifying needs, setting targets, measuring progress and taking account of changes in the housing policy arena. It is intended that meetings will take place twice per year.

 Public Private Partnerships

The Department supports the use of Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements to bring forward integrated housing developments of private, social and affordable housing units.  PPP arrangements also feature as an important part of the Affordable Housing Initiative under the Sustaining Progress agreement and the new Rental Accommodation Scheme.

Housing Schemes

Housing services for which the Department is responsible are virtually all delivered through the local authorities.
 These services for which the Department provides the legislative basis and, as appropriate, financial support, include:

The Department also provides a limited range of services directly to the public, mainly in relation to private housing, as follows:

National Development Plan 2007-2013

Housing was included in the NDP for the first time for the 2000-2006 Plan.

  • Some €10.5 billion was spent in that period on local authority, voluntary and affordable housing together with regeneration work and the provision of accommodation for special needs.
  • The NDP 2007-2013 is a strategic document setting out the sectoral investment policy priorities over the medium term.
  • It sets spending within a sustainable budgetary and economic framework and provides a financial and policy structure for Departments and implementing agencies to rollout programmes and projects.
  • Housing forms part of the Social Infrastructure Investment Priority together with Health, Justice, Sport/Culture.
  • Some €21 billion is provided for under the Housing Programme (including €3b in Supplementary Welfare Allowance – rent supplement) - the second biggest investment programme after Transport.

New Housing Design Guidelines

The Department has recently launched new housing design guidelines Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities.  These guidelines are a comprehensive revision of the 1999 Social Housing Design Guidelines and have been produced following a consultation process with all stakeholders active in this area.  The purpose of the Guidelines is to assist in achieving the objectives contained in the Government's recent housing policy statement – Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities.
 
The new Guidelines focus on the process surrounding the delivery of quality housing for sustainable communities and improved settlement patterns and "place-making" in the context of promoting quality neighbourhoods.  New aspects of the Guidelines deal with:
 
- Urban design,
- Increased space standards, and
- Energy efficiency.

The Guidelines are available to the right of your screen under Publications & Documents.

National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016

  • The National Action Plan for Social Inclusion (NAPinclusion) was published in February 2007 and has a 10-year timescale up to 2016.  The Plan is closely linked to the new National Development Plan 2007-2013 (NDP), within the overall framework of the social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, which sets out the Government’s high-level goals to combat poverty and social exclusion, based on the lifecycle approach.  This approach places the individual at the centre of policy development and delivery and offers a framework for implementing a streamlined, cross-cutting and visible approach to tackling poverty and social exclusion. Implementation of this approach will be supported by the measures in the NDP which identifies key policy areas where action is most required and specifies the resources which will be committed in this regard.  The four lifecycle stages are children, people of working age, older people and people with disabilities.
  • The Plan has a strong focus on actions and targets, clearly defined and measurable, which are essential if progress is to be effectively monitored. By adopting the lifecycle approach the Plan also supports the development of a more joined-up and multi-disciplinary approach to policy making, with co-ordinated inputs from a wide range of actors. In addition to setting out a wide-ranging and comprehensive programme of over 150 actions and targets across all stages of the lifecycle, the NAPinclusion details a small number of high-level strategic goals, reflecting the strong view of Government that significant interventions are required in some key areas in order to achieve the overall objective of reducing consistent poverty.
  • The High Level Goal in the Housing area is: to deliver high quality housing for those who cannot afford to meet their own housing needs and to underpin the building of sustainable communities.  An important element will be the enhanced housing output reflected in Towards 2016, which will result in the accommodation needs of some 60,000 new households being addressed over the period 2007 to 2009. This will embrace meeting special housing needs (the homeless, Travellers, older people and people with disabilities).

Further details regarding the NAPinclusion can be found on the website of the Office for Social Inclusion.

 

  • Print this page

Publications & Documents

News and Speeches

Legislation