The Government will give the country’s local authorities €100 million to pay off debts if they build modular homes for housing in the next two years.
To qualify, the Department of Housing states that lands where debts will be covered have to be suitable for the “immediate development” of social housing.
Construction will have to begin in 2023 or no later than 2024 with use of “accelerated” delivery.
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The move by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien comes as it emerged this week that there is a record 11,397 people in emergency homeless accommodation, including 3,480 children.
Councils who take part in the scheme will be given access to two sources of funding totalling hundreds of millions of euros to cover outstanding debts.
It is known that local authorities carry more than €300 million of such debt.
It is also understood that around €100 million is being made available to deal with these debts and another €125 million being made available for buying more land for housing.
The Government hopes to deliver an average of 10,000 newly-built social homes every year up until 2030 but it is feared it will miss these targets this year.
It is believed Government’s preference is to use modular or quick-build techniques whenever possible to speed up the building process.
It is also understood that the Government might consider giving tax breaks to developers to encourage them to invest more in housing but this move could be resisted by the Department of Finance.
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