Laois County Council delivered a total of 490 social houses in 2023, up from 326 the previous year.
Of the 490 houses, 286 were newly builds, up from 229 the previous year.
The vast majority of new builds were in Portlaoise, with a total of 190 houses delivered across six separate projects.
The breakdown of these houses is as follows:
- Goldencroft – 54
- The Meadows – 48
- Harpur’s Crescent – 44
- Dunamaise View, Kilminchy – 36
- Astwood Walk – 4
- Mount Stewart, Summerhill – 4
Elsewhere, there were 52 house delivered in Portarlington – 38 in Ballymorris Green and 18 in Market Square.
The remaining houses saw 20 delivered in Stradbally, 14 in Errill, six in Mountmellick, and four in Killeshin.
The breakdown of all 286 new houses is as follows:
- Three-bed houses – 184
- Two-bed houses – 80
- Four-bed houses – 11
- Two-bed apartments – 6
- One-bed apartments – 4
- Three-bed apartments – 1
The remaining 204 homes were delivered via re-lets, acquisitions, and leasing.
This is up significantly from the 97 delivered in 2022.
Of the 490 total homes delivered, 146 were allocated to people with disabilities.
This is also up significantly from 67 in 2022, and 104 in 2021.
Addressing the figures, Chief Executive of Laois County Council, Mr John Mulholland conceded that while the overall delivery of homes has been well above forecasted figures, there remains a problem regarding the lack of one- and two-bedroom houses.
“The big issue that we have is in relation to one-and two-bed units,” Mr Mulholland said.
“And I don’t really see any economical or financial prospect of that being sorted fairly soon, such is the cost of providing these units.”
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