The Housing Minister says he favours structures and delivery frameworks over targets, as he defends plans to change how councils and Approved Housing Bodies provide social homes.
Housing Minister James Browne has said he does not believe in housing targets, while maintaining his commitment to delivering 300,000 new homes during the Government’s term.
Browne made the comments on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, where he discussed the Government’s decision to phase out funding for local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) purchasing newly completed homes for social housing.
Under the new approach, social homes are expected to be delivered through expanded local authority and AHB building programmes, as well as development partnerships involving the Land Development Agency (LDA).
The policy is intended to reduce the reliance on buying homes from developers once they are completed, and to give housing providers a greater role in planning and delivering properties.
Minister says targets can become an end in themselves
Asked how many additional homes the new policy would deliver, Browne said he did not believe in targets, arguing that delivery structures and frameworks were a better way to approach housing.
“I don’t believe in targets. What I believe is in structures, in frameworks. I think that’s the best way to approach things,” he said.
He argued that targets could become “the be-all and end-all”, rather than focusing attention on how homes are actually delivered.
However, Browne said he remained committed to the Government’s ambition to build 300,000 homes over its term.
The comments raise a distinction between the Government’s overall housing ambition and the minister’s preference for focusing on systems and capacity rather than setting targets as the central measure of progress.
Government plans to change how social homes are acquired
The new policy will end funding for turnkey acquisitions by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies. The final date for submitting turnkey acquisition funding applications to the Department is set for 31 December 2027.
Turnkey purchases involve a council or housing body buying a home that is already built, or where construction has begun, from a private developer.
Browne said the Government was ending the practice of local authorities stepping in to purchase homes as developers completed them.
“What we’re bringing to an end here is where local authorities step in when houses are finished, and then purchase those homes or approved housing bodies,” he said.
He said councils would no longer be able to buy completed homes in this way and remove them from the pool of properties that might otherwise have been available to private purchasers.
The Minister said the policy was not intended to prevent councils from working with developers to deliver social housing.
“But we are not preventing local authorities from engaging with developers to build on their behalf,” he said.
Instead, the Government wants local authorities and housing bodies to become involved earlier in projects and take a more active role in determining what is built.
Partnership agreements intended to shape developments earlier
Under the proposed approach, Partnership Development Agreements will be arranged between local authorities or Approved Housing Bodies and developers to deliver social housing.
Projects may be developed on land owned by a developer or on land held by a local authority or housing body.
The partnerships are intended to give housing providers more influence over the types of homes delivered. Where developers are engaged to build social housing, they are expected to be involved at an early stage of project development.
The aim is to ensure that developments respond to identified social housing needs and use standardised designs.
This differs from turnkey acquisition, where a council or housing body agrees to buy homes after they have been built or after construction is already under way.
The policy also envisages an expanded role for local authority and AHB own-build programmes, alongside partnership developments led by those organisations and the Land Development Agency.
Minister points to increase in housing completions
Browne said the Government’s 300,000-home ambition would require construction to increase over the course of its term.
He argued that delivery would need to build momentum rather than reach the same level in every year from the outset.
The Central Statistics Office recorded 36,284 new homes completed in 2025, an increase of 20.4% compared with 2024.
Browne cited the increase as evidence of momentum in the housing system. He said that, to reach the Government’s ambition, construction would need to scale up.
“You scale up, that’s what you do in any system,” he said.
He added that reaching a 300,000-home ambition would not necessarily mean delivering 50,000 homes in the first year and then repeating that figure annually.
Browne said he did not have a forecast for the current year. The supplied interview excerpt ends as he begins to explain his position on forecasts, so the remainder of that answer is not included here.
Will the new approach increase social housing delivery?
The Government’s policy changes the route through which social homes are expected to be provided. Rather than purchasing completed properties, local authorities and housing bodies are being encouraged to develop homes directly or work with developers through planned partnerships.
The potential effect will depend on whether councils, Approved Housing Bodies and the Land Development Agency can expand their building capacity and bring projects forward in sufficient numbers.
The change is also intended to address the Minister’s concern that turnkey acquisitions can remove newly built homes from the private market. At the same time, the Government says it wants social housing supply to grow.
The transition will therefore be judged on more than the number of turnkey purchases that end. A key question will be whether the alternative delivery arrangements produce additional social homes while allowing more newly built properties to remain available to private buyers.
