Government claims Housing for All programme has delivered for Tipperary

The Government has claimed that its Housing for All programme has delivered for Tipperary over the past 12 months.

In a statement, the Department for Housing, Local Government and Heritage said that 376 new homes had been built in Tipperary in the 12 months to end of June 2022 (a 26.2% increase on the previous 12 months).

"While there’s a lot of work still to do, we can see already, after the first 12 months that the plan is working in Tipperary and across the country," said Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien.

Other measures that the Government said were benefiting Tipperary included:

- Commencement Notices for 525 homes were received in Tipperary in the 12 months to the end of July 2022 (an 82.9% increase on the previous 12 months)

- Planning permissions for 1,322 homes in Tipperary to the end of Q1 2022 (a 174.3% increase on the previous 12 months)

- Approval for five new posts in Tipperary County Council for local authority housing delivery

- Introduction of exemption from planning permission requirements for converting vacant Tipperary pubs into homes. The existing exemptions to converting vacant commercial premises into homes in Tipperary have been extended. Between 2018 and 2021, 94 residential units were provided in county Tipperary through 61 notifications of exempted developments.

- In 2021, the Government provided €58.48m in total funding for housing to Tipperary County Council, an increase of 18% on 2020.

- In 2021, 177 new social homes were delivered.

- There was a 40% reduction in the number of households on the social housing waiting list in Tipperary at the end of 2021 compared to the first annual assessment conducted in September 2016.

“Tipperary County Council is playing a central role in delivering housing in the county. Over the past 12 months the Government has provided resources and funding to the council to help it deliver for people in Tipperary.

"I’ve recently issued guidelines to Tipperary County Council on the making of their county development plan to ensure it takes into account projected housing need so that sufficient new homes can be built in key areas of housing demand.

"We have also streamlined the processes for the procurement of social housing," said Peter Burke, Minister of State for Planning and Local Government.