On Wednesday (12 November), the Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025‑2030 plan was published by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, setting out the Government’s strategy to accelerate housing delivery and tackle homelessness over the next five years. The plan is anchored on three pillars: activating supply, facilitating investment and viability, and increasing skills and modern methods of construction.
The headline commitment is delivery of over 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030, representing an average of approximately 60,000 homes per year. Within that total, the plan highlights the creation of 90,000 “starter homes” over a five-year period. The plan also commits to increasing social housing delivery (noting a target of about 12,000 social homes annually in one source) and sets out mechanisms for activating land, infrastructure and funding.
Key features include:
- An additional €2.5 billion allocation for the Land Development Agency (LDA) to expand its remit in land-purchase and delivery of homes, bringing its total funding to ~€8.75 billion.
- Reforms to land zoning, compulsory purchase orders, improved coordination of utilities (such as ESB Networks, EirGrid and Uisce Éireann) and steps to reduce planning- and infrastructure-related construction delays.
- Emphasis on modern methods of construction (MMC), workforce skills, standardised design and procurement reform to boost productivity and reduce build costs.
Reactions to the plan have been mixed. Business representative groups such as Ibec welcomed the target of 300,000 homes by 2030. Ibec described the plan’s investment in enabling infrastructure and large-scale development as a “critical intervention” in addressing Ireland’s long-standing housing deficit. Some industry-aware commentators additionally emphasise that supply-chain constraints remain substantial. For instance, the Construction Industry Federation and Ibec have cautioned that unless zoned and serviced land, planning permissions, and infrastructure (water, electricity, roads) are actively unlocked, the ambition of delivering more than 60,000 homes per year remains difficult to sustain.
By contrast, opposition parties and commentators have raised significant reservations. Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson noted that the plan appears to contain “no increase in funding or targets for the delivery of new-build social homes” and argued the strategy does not sufficiently tackle core systemic issues. Critics also pointed to the removal of annual output targets — the plan emphasises a cumulative target (300,000 by 2030) rather than fixed year-on-year benchmarks — which has prompted concerns over accountability and delivery risk.
Notwithstanding these concerns, the plan reflects a clear shift in the Government’s approach: from purely setting numeric targets to “activating supply” and reform-driven delivery. The integration of infrastructure, utility-planning, land-use and investment levers is a more holistic framing than older plans. The focus on both new housing supply and tackling homelessness (including the highest-ever recorded number of children in emergency accommodation) demonstrates recognition of the dual challenge of supply and social support.
The “Delivering Homes, Building Communities” plan outlines a substantial investment- and reform-oriented framework for Irish housing policy through to 2030. Its success will depend on the execution of the supply chain, the unlocking of land and infrastructure, the pace of regulatory reform, and market-sector engagement. While the targets are ambitious, the prevailing consensus among analysts and media commentators is that implementation risk remains high.
