Infrastructure fund to unlock thousands of new homes

PROPERTY

Property Insights with Johnny Gannon, Fair Deal Property

The State has confirmed that a €1 billion infrastructure investment fund is expected to deliver tens of thousands of new homes across Ireland before 2030, following a surge of applications from local authorities seeking funding to unblock stalled housing sites.

The Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund, managed by the newly established Housing Activation Office, received 138 applications from councils across the country when its first funding call closed in February. Decisions on successful projects are expected to be announced on July 1st.

The fund's purpose is straightforward but significant. Across Ireland, there are thousands of acres of zoned land sitting idle, not because developers lack appetite or planning permission is absent, but because the road junction is missing, the water connection isn't there, or the utility infrastructure hasn't been delivered. This fund is designed to bridge exactly that gap, with the State stepping in to provide hard infrastructure where the private sector cannot or will not go first.

That is a meaningful shift in approach. For years, the assumption was that developers would absorb infrastructure costs as part of their delivery model. Rising build costs, development levies, and tightening margins have made that model increasingly unworkable. The State is now accepting that unlocking housing at scale requires public capital going in ahead of private development, not alongside it.

This shift should result in a stronger pipeline of new homes over the next three to five years, particularly in towns and suburban areas where zoned land exists but has been frozen by infrastructure deficits.

There is, however, a legitimate concern worth flagging. Several Oireachtas members raised the issue of soft infrastructure, childcare, community facilities, retail, libraries, being left out of the fund's remit entirely. There are many well documented cases where residential development arrived only for community facilities to follow decades later.

That lag damages buyer confidence and undermines the long-term viability of new communities. It is an issue the Housing Activation Office has acknowledged may need to be addressed in future iterations of the scheme.

The fund is a step in the right direction. The question now is whether July's announcements include projects that meaningfully serve the West of Ireland, and whether the momentum being built at national level translates into homes on the ground in Galway.

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