Social Housing Construction Projects in Louth – Status report

The Department of Housing, Planning, Community & Local Government published on Friday an updated status list of social housing construction schemes that are advancing in Louth.

The report covers the period up to the end of Quarter 2 of this year. It is a list of all the approved social housing construction projects that are either on site or are being designed and developed – and it also includes projects that were completed since 2016, when Rebuilding Ireland started.

According to the report, 38 social housing construction projects were approved in Louth since Rebuilding Ireland started.

The 38 projects in Louth account for 634 housing units in total.

Five different funding programmes are developing the projects. They are as follows:

Calf Construction - 5 projects

Calf Construction Turnkey - 14 projects

CAS Construction - 8 projects

Regeneration - 1 projects

Ship Construction - 8 projects

The report says that of the 38 projects in Louth, 10 were completed by the end of Q2 2017 (end of June 2017).

The 10 completed projects provided 61 housing units in total.

Of the other 28 projects, eight are currently under development.

Seven projects are in Stage 1, a capital appraisal stage. Three are in Stage 2 – a pre-planning stage, while the remaining 10 are in Stage 4 – where the tender report or final turnkey/CALF is approved.

Commenting on the progress, the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy had this to say:

”We want to be very open with everybody regarding what is being done in this critical area of building new social homes.

"This publication of the construction projects allows my colleagues in the Oireachtas, Elected Councillors, the public, and the media to see where new construction projects are approved and how they are advancing”, he said.

“There has been much media and political commentary on the importance of building new social housing and we would all like this to happen within weeks, or a few months", he continued.

"In spite of the massive funding that we have set aside for this purpose – some €5.35 billion – it takes time to deliver new social homes, especially when you consider the emphasis we are placing on good, long-term planning.

"Thankfully, each month we are seeing more and more projects start and finish on site, with keys to new homes being handed over to people on the waiting list.

"This is our key objective and through these projects, we are increasingly seeing the progress we need”, added Minister Murphy.