The government\u2019s failure to adequately support the Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector is creating unnecessary blockages in the delivery of social and affordable homes, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Taoiseach and Minister for Housing have talked about creating certainty and stability in housing \u2013 yet, shockingly, they are delaying the delivery of social and affordable homes. Instead of providing certainty, the government is creating absolute chaos and confusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cAHBs are delivering almost half of all social and affordable homes each year. The sector has sought clarity and support from the government about social housing projects, but this has not been forthcoming.<\/p>\n
\u201cAHBs have described the situation now as a hiatus, with delays and chaos in the Department of Housing and serious flaws in the government\u2019s approval process for the sector\u2019s social and affordable housing schemes. As a result, confidence is being lost in the housing system.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AHB sector is essential for social and affordable housing delivery \u2013 so why isn\u2019t the government giving it the support it needs?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is baffling, in the middle of a housing emergency, that key delivery organisations for social and affordable homes have faced funding delays for their projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, it has been brought to my attention that for some mixed tenure projects of social and affordable homes, the Department of Housing is delaying for up to six months approval of the affordable housing aspect through the Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) funding scheme. It is completely unacceptable that the Taoiseach and Minister for Housing have allowed a situation to develop where potentially thousands of social and affordable homes are being held up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese delays make it very difficult for AHBs to keep builders on their projects or give them confidence in future contracts. It puts at risk thousands of social and affordable homes due to be delivered in the coming years, with some projects possibly being lost altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis situation highlights the chaos at the heart of the government\u2019s housing approach and its failure to treat the crisis as the emergency that it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
September 23, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The government\u2019s failure to adequately support the Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector is creating unnecessary blockages in the delivery of social and affordable homes, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said: \u201cThe Taoiseach and Minister for Housing have talked about creating certainty and stability in housing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n