Housing scheme is not working and needs to be revised, says Cork TD

A €450m Government scheme aimed at delivering 5,000 apartments by next year has only delivered 870 units nationally, or 17% of its target — with 372 of them in Cork.

Seamus McGrath, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South Central, said the Croí Cónaithe city scheme is not working and is in need of revision.

The scheme was announced in 2021 by then housing minister Darragh O’Brien as part of the Housing for All strategy, and went live in 2022.

It was devised to subsidise the construction of apartments and make this more viable by bridging the gap between high development costs and lower sale prices.

Under the scheme, drawdown of funding occurs on completion of projects and following the sale of apartments to owner occupiers.

Ambitious

When it was launched, officials hoped the subsidy would help deliver 5,000 units by 2026, but it was suggested at the time by some developers that the scheme was extremely ambitious.

According to figures released to Mr McGrath, the Fianna Fáil housing spokesperson, 870 units in total have been delivered nationally under the Croí Cónaithe scheme.

In 2023, a total of 425 units were delivered — with 372 of them in Cork and 53 in Dublin — while in 2024, some 445 units were delivered, all of them in Dublin.

The figures were contained in a reply from housing minister James Browne to a parliamentary question by Mr McGrath.

In his written reply, Mr Browne said there had, to date, been three calls for expressions of interest under the scheme.

Mr Browne said: “Three applications were approved for the Housing Agency entering into designation and development agreements in respect of 445 apartments in 2024.

“With regard to 2025, there are several proposals at final contract stage, and I will be formally releasing details of the associated approvals shortly.”

Revised 

Speaking to The Echo, Mr McGrath said the scheme was clearly not working, and needed to be revised.

Mr McGrath said: “In terms of achieving a high housing output, we do have to prioritise high-density housing in cities, such as apartment blocks.

“The Croí Cónaithe city scheme was designed to try and incentivise development, but unfortunately the take-up has been quite poor, and we have to look at revising the scheme, or devising other incentives to try and stimulate activity.”

“We have to recognise that this scheme isn’t working, and we need to come up with new ways to try and activate that end of the housing market, because to achieve our overall targets or to come close to achieving our targets — as well as building our traditional house-type development — you have to build high density in cities, and you have to build apartment blocks.

“It simply won’t be possible to achieve our output otherwise."

Mr McGrath said the Government’s Housing For All strategy was currently being revised, with an updated version due to be published in July.

Mr McGrath said: “I have no doubt that there will be measures in that to stimulate apartment building, because unfortunately apartment building has reduced significantly in the last one to two years.”

He added that, without pre-empting the revised strategy, he was aware that the Department of Housing was currently examining a number of options.

“It’s obvious from the current figures that Croí Cónaithe isn’t working, and updated and refreshed measures have to be put in place,” Mr McGrath said.