IN 2019 housing associations in Kildare added 201 social housing units, the third highest figure in the country outside of the metropolitan areas behind Louth (226) and Kilkenny (210).

This was revealed in the annual Housing Association Activity Report, released this week (10 June).

Nationally, the housing association sector provided 4,127 new social rented homes in 2019 – 41 per cent of the total national delivery of social housing – and took these off the social housing waiting list.

Overall, social housing output provided by both local authorities and housing associations was 10,007 last year through building, acquisition and leasing.

“Housing associations reached record delivery levels in 2019 with the highest ever number of homes for the sector, with 10,007 social rented homes built, purchased and leased in 2019 , where housing associations delivered more than 40 per cent of these,” said Dr. Donal McManus, CEO of the Irish Council on Social Housing (ICSH).

Just seven years ago his sector provided just 211 homes for the entire country, whereas the target for 2021 is 15,000 homes.

Housing associations (also known as approved housing bodies or ‘AHBs’) are professional not-for-profit organisations dedicated to the construction and management of affordable housing.

“Today’s figures demonstrate that AHBs have been delivering-on, and exceeding, housing association targets in Rebuilding Ireland.  Rebuilding Ireland’s 2019 construction and acquisition target for our sector was 2,513 and we exceeded this,” aid Dr McManus.

“We’ve delivered almost 11,000 homes since ‘Rebuilding Ireland’ was launched, and our sector’s current construction pipeline is a healthy 11,263 homes,” he said.