The Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) has said that Budget 2025 provides a substantial capital and current expenditure allocation to a multi-annual investment programme that supports AHB new housing delivery and management for 2025.
Total exchequer funding available is €4.85bn, made up of €3.2bn Capital and €1.65bn Current. The Government has committed a €6bn capital investment in housing for 2025 made up of exchequer funding, €1.25bn allocated to the Land Development Agency (LDA) and €1.65bn for the Housing Finance Agency (HFA).
Key social & affordable housing measures in Budget 2025 include the following.
Capital Funding
- Capital funding of €2.157bn (an increase of €257m on 2024) to deliver 10,000 new-build social homes (700 additional homes on 2024). under the Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP), Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) and Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS).
- AHB delivery of 1000 Cost Rental homes via €300m provided under the Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) mechanism (a decrease of €135m on the 2024 revised estimate).
- 2,165 new social homes will be delivered through various leasing schemes (including Mortgage to Rent and Repair and Lease) delivered by local authorities and AHBs (35 more than in 2024).
- €90m allocated to the Secure Tenancy Affordable Rental Investment Scheme (STAR).
- €12m for transitional and emergency accommodation for individuals experiencing homelessness.
- €23m is provided to deliver Traveller-Specific Accommodation for members of the Traveller community (an increase of €2 million on 2024).
- €100m to adapt the homes of older people and disabled people (an additional €25m on 2024).
- €25m to support adaptation works of 1,800 local authority social homes.
- €31 million will support the continued transition to a strategic planned maintenance programme for local authority social housing and the remediation of 2,300 void units.
- €90m is allocated to support the retrofitting of 2,500 local authority homes under the Social Housing Retrofit Programme (same as 2024).
- €105m is being provided in 2025 for the remediation of homes affected by defects, including pyrite, apartment defects and defective concrete blocks (an increase of €35m on 2024)
Current Funding
- Total available funding of €627m under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) to support the delivery of 7,400 new social homes in 2025, as well as continuing to support over 38,000 homes already in place (an increase of €110m on 2024)
- Funding of €303 million will be made available for the delivery of homeless services (an increase of €61m on 2024).
- Funding of €101 million for the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) will support a further 1,600 tenancies in 2025 along with continuing support for some 16,000 active tenancies estimated to be in place by end 2025 (€10m less than 2024)
- An allocation of €482m for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) for 8,400 new households as well as continuing support for over 50,000 HAP tenancies estimated to be in place at end 2025 (400 fewer new households than in 2024);
- €10.5 million will be provided for local authority inspection activity in the rental sector.
- To support the rental sector, the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) and other advocacy supports will receive funding of €14.5m (an increase of €1.1m on 2024).
- In 2025, the Housing Agency will receive funding of €20m (an increase of €2.8m on 2024).
- The AHB Regulatory Authority will receive €3.9m (an increase of €0.6m on 2024).
