The Department of Housing has failed to use more than €1 billion that was set aside for housing over the past three years during a period when the State was going through an unprecedented housing crisis.
The new figures, obtained from parliamentary queries by Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin, show that €1.52 billion of the department’s capital budget was not spent, with over €1 billion allocated for social and affordable housing. This figure is enough to build 4,000 social homes.
In 2020, €92 million was left unspent; in 2021, €441 million was left; and in 2022, €471 million was left. This trend continues in 2021, with the department’s capital spending in the first quarter of the year at €232 million, which is below profile by 29%.
The department claimed that 2022 saw the highest level of housing expenditure ever in a single year and almost €3.5 billion was spent on housing. This was due to the impacts of Covid-19 restrictions on the construction sector and the Russian war on Ukraine, which caused delays and issues with cost inflation, fuel prices, and supply chains.
Eoin Ó Broin disagrees with the department’s explanation, arguing that the main cause is red tape and bureaucracy. He believes this unspent capital could have provided 4,000 social and affordable homes, which would have been enough to house half of the households currently in Department of Housing-funded emergency accommodation.
The department’s housing funding is typically done through the Social Housing Investment Programme, the Capital Advance Leasing Facility, the Capital Assistance Scheme, cost-rental equity loan funding, and the affordable housing fund. However, the Minister for Housing has refused to act on the problem that has been highlighted for years.
