The Laois County Council housing waiting list has seen a drop of over 400 names in the past four months according to housing officer Michael Rainey.
He said there was various reasons as to why the numbers have seen a decrease, but not all have left the list because they have been allocated a house by the council.
Other reasons why people have left include: transferring on to another waiting list, applicants no longer in need to be on the waiting list, or applicants who failed to respond to contact from the council.
The council do expect to meet the target set by the Government which was to provide 123 new homes in 2018, along with the 2021 target of 684 new houses.
Mr Rainey told local media that the figure may seem big but that with a combination of different types of housing, the council expects to surpass it.
Over 90 homes have been acquired by the council since 2015, in towns such as Portlaoise, Portarlington, Mountmellick, Rathdowney, Arles, Abbeyleix, Ballylinan, Graiguecullen and Killeshin.
At the moment the council are exploring the market for houses that will need some work to make them liveable, to add to the level of houses available to the housing list applicants.
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