Broad welcome for new social Housing Strategy

A new plan by government to clear the 90,000 waiting list for social housing has been welcomed by support groups, but with a warning that much more work is needed to ease the crisis.

Alan Kelly, the environment minister, introduced Social Housing Strategy 2020: Support, Supply and Reform, and pledged it would be “executed in full” and delivered in two phases.

In the first phase, the target is 18,000 additional housing units and 32,000 HAP/RAS (Housing Assistance Payment /Rental Accommodation Scheme) units to be delivered by the end of 2017.