Ireland failing to access 'lucrative' EU funding to develop social housing, MEP says

Some of the main issues identified in the report include the private sector not hitting the delivery targets set out in national strategies, less plentiful private investment for build-to-rent developments and local authorities and State agencies not being utilised to their full potential. File picture: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

A number of “potentially lucrative” EU funding schemes for Ireland to develop new social housing or boost existing housing stock “remain completely unutilised”, a new report has claimed.

Commissioned by Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews, the report by Housing Europe identifies 11 problems in the Irish housing sector that present barriers to progress, as well as 19 policy options from other European states that could tackle them.