Up to 33,000 new homes could be required in Kerry by 2050, according to the Housing Commission’s Report.
The report, published this week, claims interventions to deal with housing have not resolved failures that are fundamentally systemic.
The report says it’s critical that housing deficit is addressed through emergency action, while Kerry was singled out for challenges when it comes to affordability.
The Housing Commission writes that the overall strategy to successfully achieve a sustainable housing system is not complicated.
The Commission undertook an analysis of projected regional population distributions in 2050 and associated housing requirements.
There were 58,000 households in Kerry as of 2022, and the Commission estimates between 27,000 and 33,000 additional new homes will be needed in the county by 2050.
The report also singles out Kerry, as well as Wicklow and Dublin, as having the greatest housing affordability challenges for first-time buyers, using median incomes in each county.
The Commission noted that social housing need has expanded greatly since 1991, and particularly since the late 2000s, following the marked decline in social housing output.
It says there are variations in the adequacy of social housing output between different parts of Ireland.
The report claims that the annual social housing output in Kerry between 2011 and 2020 was equal to about 3.5% of the social housing need of the county.
This is among the lowest percentage of any local authority area across the country.
The report also makes over 80 recommendations to address Ireland’s housing situation, with a link to the report available on radiokerry.ie.
