Construction of 4,000 homes to begin in Ireland by 2024

DUBLIN, Ireland: Respond, an Irish Approved Housing Body (AHB) focused on construction and social services, will have a record 4,000 new social and cost rental homes under construction by the end of 2024.

This marks a threefold increase in its home-building efforts over the past year.

Currently, Respond has 2,925 homes in development across 21 sites under its 1.2 billion euros construction program. The organization is dedicated to expanding the national housing stock by acquiring land, funding construction at all stages, and overseeing the process with in-house experts to ensure quality and cost control.

Respond's unique construction-led model, which includes purchasing land and financing construction through Fixed Price Contracts, helps reduce costs. On average, the organization saves 65,000 euros per home compared to a housing acquisition model. This approach could result in a total saving of 260 million euros across the 4,000 homes.

The organization's projects are carefully managed through staged payments verified by independent Quantity Surveyors, which ensures cost efficiency and quality and provides value for money for the State.

The announcement coincided with the launch of Respond's 2023 Annual Report by Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O'Brien TD.

Niamh Randall, a spokesperson for Respond, highlighted that the organization's construction-led model offers a cost-effective and sustainable way to deliver large-scale mixed-tenure developments that include both social and cost-rental homes.

"We are building inclusive, long-term sustainable communities, with our developments placed close to amenities including schools and parks, public transport routes, and commercial centers.

"Each development follows our evidence-informed Housing Services Delivery model and includes community hubs, and often several of the additional community services we also provide, including Early Learning and School Age Care services, and services for older people, readily accessible for families."

Minister O'Brien praised Respond's work, emphasizing its contribution to increasing the supply of social and affordable housing in Ireland. He noted that efforts by AHBs like Respond, alongside Local Authorities, are helping meet the demand for affordable housing, which is a crucial goal of the government's Housing for All plan.

"Under Housing for All, supply is increasing and will continue to do so through the hard work of our AHB partners, such as Respond and our Local Authorities working in conjunction with my department."