Image: https://www.irishmirror.ie/Housing was a big focus in the 2019 Budget.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohue has announced a 26 per cent increase in the delivery of homelessness services in 2019.
In total €2.3 billion has been allocated to housing, including €1.4 Billion on new social and affordable homes.
The highlights of the announcements include:
- €1.4 Billion in capital funding allocated for the building of new social and affordable homes in 2019.
- 16,760 additional homes will be accommodated under the Housing Assistant Payment (HAP) at a cost of €121 million.
- Day-to-day spending on social housing is to increase by €40 million with the aim of delivering almost 5,000 new homes in 2019.
- €30 million has been made available for homelessness services with the express aim of delivering more emergency accommodation.
- An additional €210 million has been announced for local authorities to build and acquire new homes for social housing.
So-called 'housing budget' anything but, say Labour.
Labour Housing spokesperson, Jan O'Sullivan, has said that housing proposals as part of today's Budget will do nothing to ease the housing crisis when it comes to rent.
"Not one measure printed in any of today’s papers will do anything to help those who are stuck in the eye of the rental storm," said Deputy O'Sullivan.
"Fianna Fáil's so-called affordable housing scheme is a direct subsidy to developers. It's a classic from the Fianna Fáil playbook providing a top up for big builders but doing little to deliver a real affordable scheme.
Despite insistence's from Fianna Fáil that this would be a “housing budget”, it is anything but. €300 million for a so-called affordable housing scheme is absolutely miserable in the context of what is actually needed.
“The proposed tax cut for landlords won't deliver one extra rental property but it will line the pockets of those who've been benefitting from the record increases in rent."
Ms O'Sullivan said that the budget marks a "return to the days when budgets were great for developers."
