Budget 2021: Extra €700m for social and affordable housing 

Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath will deliver the budget on Tuesday. Picture: Julien Behal

An extra €700m will be spent on building and retrofitting social and affordable houses while home help hours will increase by one-quarter as part of Budget 2021.

Tomorrow's budget will focus on four key areas, housing, health, Brexit, and climate action, with a considerable number of measures also aimed at supporting the economy and businesses through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Older and more vulnerable people are to be supported by an extra 5m home care hours as part of an unprecedented €4bn spend on health.

The number of hours allocated as part of home care packages is to increase by around one-quarter, up from 19m hours to around 24m hours next year.

The Department of Housing is to receive at least €500m extra as part of the budget, bringing the total spend to more than €3bn.

A considerable chunk of the extra allocation will be siphoned off to local authorities who have been ordered to build more social houses. The remainder will be spent on the affordable housing scheme, homeless services, and other initiatives aimed at providing more homes.

Separately, between €285m and €290m will be pumped into retrofitting older houses, with at least 70% of this money being channelled into upgrades for the most vulnerable households through the warmer homes scheme, as well as retrofitting social housing stock and community projects. The remaining 30% will top up existing grants for heat pumps, solar panels, and insulation.

The three Government leaders are due to meet today to sign off on the final details.

Other measures expected to be announced include:

• A Christmas bonus for those on the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) and jobseekers payment;
• Changes to PUP to allow the self-employed to earn up to €480 a month and still claim the support;
• Three weeks' optional paid parental leave on top of the two weeks previously announced;
• Commercial rates waived until next year;
• A cut in Vat for the hospitality sector from 13.5% to 9%;
• Grants to help artists and musicians stage live performances;
• 2,000 extra education posts, including 990 SNAs;
• Increases in Garda numbers in line with the programme for government.

As part of a range of environmental measures, carbon tax will be hiked by €7.50 per tonne. This increase will come into effect for petrol and diesel from midnight on budget day. However, the increase on home heating oil is expected to be deferred.

Investment in greenways across the country is to more than double to over €50m in the budget as part of a suite of measures to support the green economy and the tourism industry.