{"id":135823,"date":"2025-11-12T14:51:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T14:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/135823\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T14:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T14:51:07","slug":"aspiring-homeowners-advised-to-hang-in-there-by-minister-ahead-of-new-housing-plan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/135823\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspiring homeowners advised to \u2018hang in there\u2019 by Minister ahead of new housing plan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aspiring homeowners<\/a> have been advised to \u201chang in there\u201d by the Minister for Housing<\/a> ahead of the unveiling of the long-awaited housing plan<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The plan, called Delivering Homes, Building Communities, will aim to deliver a \u201creal shift in how we get housing moving in this country\u201d, while also having a strong focus on family and child homelessness, James Browne<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the launch of the Simon Communities of Ireland<\/a> annual report for 2024 on Wednesday morning, the Minister said he shared the charity\u2019s \u201crelentlessness in seeing homelessness ended\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely unacceptable for me for any child to be homeless<\/a>. We know the numbers are going in the wrong direction, but I do think and believe the changes we\u2019ve been making, and the housing plan I\u2019m announcing tomorrow, will get that going back in opposite direction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking before bringing the long-awaited plan to Cabinet for approval, Mr Browne said a \u201chuge part\u201d of it is focused on reducing homelessness numbers, particularly among families and children, while also focusing on how to \u201cactivate housing on the ground\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the plan, combined with all the decisions that we have made over the last eight months, will move the dial, and will move it significantly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked if aspiring homeowners can expect housing prices to come down in the coming years, he advised them to \u201chang on\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we are going to bring a step change in housing delivery and that means more social homes for those who can\u2019t afford their own home.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What do we know about the Government\u2019s new housing plan?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means more affordable homes for people who need that help to be able to buy their own home, and it means more private homes for people who can afford to buy, but maybe don\u2019t have the access today to the houses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think we will see that change coming over the next couple of years, and I intend to do it quite rapidly. So I would say: hang in there. We are going to deliver homes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Unveiling the Simon Communities of Ireland annual report, the Minister said the research carried out by the charity is \u201ccrucial\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mick Price, chairman of the board of the Simon Communities of Ireland, described 2024 as \u201canother deeply challenging year for people on the margins of Irish society\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach month the appalling increase in homeless statistics is revealed \u2013 and while we may have grown numb to the figures, we must remember that behind each number is a real, living, breathing human being,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The number of people in emergency accommodation was 16,614 in September, according to the most recent figures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Price said the ongoing shortage of safe, secure and affordable housing continued to worsen throughout 2024, adding that the charity \u201cvery much looks forward to tomorrow\u2019s national plan\u201d.<\/p>\n

Noting that the annual report details the \u201creal solutions\u201d provided to the Government to tackle the housing crisis, executive director Ber Grogan said it also exposes a \u201cstark reality\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I sleep easier here\u2019: The makeshift homeless community under the M50Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland has the means to end homelessness, yet not the political will. The longer someone is in homelessness, the harder it is to get out. Every day, our services see people who want to move forward but are trapped by a broken system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Grogan said the charity hopes to see clear timelines, targets and budgets in the housing plan.<\/p>\n

The plan will aim to deliver 90,000 \u201cstarter homes\u201d over the next five years.<\/p>\n

Overall, the Government has pledged the delivery of more than 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030.<\/p>\n

There is to be an additional \u20ac2.5 billion in funding for the Land Development Agency<\/a>, which will have an expanded role under the latest plan for tackling the housing crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aspiring homeowners have been advised to \u201chang in there\u201d by the Minister for Housing ahead of the unveiling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,3663,3662,11596,7116,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-135823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-homeless-crisis","10":"tag-housing-crisis","11":"tag-housing-demand","12":"tag-james-browne","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}