Whitaker Institute members Dr Gerard Turley and Stephen McNena have written a new article for RTÉ Brainstorm. The piece looks at what the local authority facts and figures tell us about the State’s expenditure on social housing.

What the data says about fixing our dysfunctional housing market

“From a total estimated spend of €5.6bn in 2020, €1.9bn was for housing and building services, representing an increase of over 150% since 2013 when the recurring housing budget was at its lowest during the years of austerity.”

Analysis: what do local authority facts and figures tell us about the State’s expenditure on social housing?

By Gerard Turley and Stephen McNena, NUI Galway

After a lull due to the Covid-19 pandemic, public health restrictions and nationwide lockdowns, housing is yet again in the news. Similar to coronavirus and the vaccines, there is much misinformation about housing, and especially social housing. Just as epidemiologists and virologists rely on scientific data for their evidence, economists and other social scientists working on the issues of housing and shelter do likewise.

As local government in Ireland is the tier of government responsible for social housing, local authority expenditure on housing equates, more or less, to Ireland’s public sector expenditure on housing. Given this, an analysis of local authority budgets, financial statements, performance indicators, and housing statistics from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage provides us with some interesting facts about social housing. Continue reading…