Ireland is experiencing a housing crisis, with people searching for homes facing high demand, limited supply, rising rents and long waiting times for social housing. Homelessness remains a serious challenge, with thousands of adults and children continuing to rely on emergency accommodation, while essential workers such as teachers, nurses, firefighters and gardaí struggle to afford to live in the communities they serve. Many young people are also being pushed into overcrowded or poor-quality housing, and some are forced to delay education, jobs and family plans.
Housing pressures are not confined to Ireland. Across Europe, rising costs and limited supply are making housing less affordable for a growing share of middle-income households. Between 2013 and 2024, house prices increased by more than 60% across the EU, growing faster than household income, while average rents rose by around 20%. In Ireland, Central Statistics Office figures show house prices were 152.9% higher in August 2024 than in early 2013 while the Residential Tenancies Board reported that average rents for new tenancies in Dublin reached €2,307 in Q3 2025.
The European Commission estimates that the EU will need more than two million homes per year to match current demand. This means adding about 650,000 homes per year to the 1.6 million built currently. It is estimated that delivering those extra housing units would cost about €150 billion annually.
Europe’s shared housing challenge calls for a shared response. That is why the Commission has presented the European Affordable Housing Plan to help make housing more affordable, sustainable and accessible across Europe.
European Affordable Housing Plan
Housing is primarily the responsibility of Member States, regions and cities.
The Commission’s new European Affordable Housing Plan does not change that, but it sets out joint actions to help deliver more affordable homes across Europe.
It brings EU institutions, national, regional and local governments, financial institutions and stakeholders together to work on solutions to the crisis.
A home is not just four walls and a roof. It is safety, warmth, a place for family and friends. It is belonging.
The plan is built around the following four pillars with ten key areas of action where EU support can help ease the housing crisis.
Boosting housing supply: Efforts under this pillar will focus on removing barriers, speeding up construction and renovation, and making it easier to build the homes people need, including through the European Strategy for Housing Construction.
- Action 1: Strengthening the construction sector. The Commission will promote innovation, skills and cross-border activity to increase capacity, reduce costs and meet housing demand.
- Action 2: Cutting red tape. The Commission will work with Member States to simplify planning and permitting, promote digitalisation and reduce administrative burdens.
- Action 3: Combining affordability, sustainability and quality. The plan will support renovations, energy efficiency and climate-resilient homes that are affordable to build and live in.
Mobilising investment: More public and private funding will be brought in through this pillar to support affordable and sustainable housing.
- Action 4: Open a new Pan-European Investment Platform. The Commission will work with the EIB, national and regional promotional banks, and other financial institutions to bring more public and private money into affordable and sustainable housing.
- Action 5: Make state aid rules simpler. The Commission will revise state aid rules so public authorities can support social and affordable housing more quickly and with less red tape.
Enabling immediate support while driving reforms: The Commission will act quickly where housing pressure is most severe, while also pushing wider reforms.
- Action 6: Tackle short-term rentals in areas under housing stress. The Commission will propose EU rules to help local and regional authorities address the impact of short-term rentals on housing affordability, especially in places under pressure.
- Action 7: Address speculation in the housing market. The Commission will look at speculative behaviour and improve transparency in the residential market.
- Action 8: Drive structural reforms. The Commission will support Member States in reforms on planning, social housing and taxation to make housing systems simpler and more effective.
Protecting the most affected: Actions under this pillar will focus on groups hit hardest by the housing crisis, including young people, students and people experiencing homelessness.
- Action 9: Help young people and students. The Commission will support more student housing and other housing options for young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Action 10: Tackle homelessness. The Commission will support ‘Housing First’ permanent housing, with wraparound services where needed, rather than relying on shelters or short-term accommodation.
EU support for housing in Ireland
The European Affordable Housing Plan sets a new direction at EU level, but some of the tools it relies on are already visible in Ireland, including state aid approvals, EU-backed finance, and support for retrofitting and regeneration.
EU-backed finance is supporting housing delivery across the country. In October 2025, the Housing Finance Agency and the European Investment Bank launched a €400 million loan facility to support the delivery of social and affordable homes. The scheme provides Approved Housing Bodies and local authorities with access to long-term, fixed-rate finance, helping to expand cost-rental and other affordable housing models.
Another example is the European Commission’s approval of a €450 million Irish state aid scheme to support apartment construction in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. The measure is helping address viability gaps in urban areas where high construction costs have made new developments difficult.
At community level, EU-supported projects are also making a difference. In West Cork, for example, European-backed investment has helped deliver affordable homes for local people, illustrating how EU funding can support smaller-scale developments.
Ireland’s retrofit and home energy upgrade programmes also benefit from EU involvement. The Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme was developed with the European Investment Bank Group and the European Investment Fund, enabling homeowners to access low-cost loans for energy efficiency improvements. In addition, Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, supported through the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, is helping to scale up investment in residential energy upgrades and improve the energy performance of the housing stock. In addition, EU rules establishing a harmonised register for short‑term rentals are due to come into force in Ireland soon. These rules will improve transparency in the short‑term letting market and support national and local authorities in managing housing supply in areas where tourism‑driven demand is putting pressure on long‑term rental availability.
Taken together, these examples show that while housing will remain primarily a national and local responsibility, EU tools can play a practical and supporting role in Ireland.
Housing Act and EU funding
The European Affordable Housing Plan is a starting point for tackling the crisis. The Commission is now preparing the Affordable Housing Act, which is due to be presented in 2026. To help shape the Act, the Commission held workshops and launched a targeted consultation with citizens, public authorities, stakeholders and academia to gather views on how best to protect and promote housing affordability in the areas most affected by the crisis.
Once the Commission presents the Act, the European Parliament and the Council will review it before it can be adopted. The finalised Act will give national, regional and local authorities tools they can use to ease housing pressure in their own local context.
EU funding is already helping to make housing more affordable. Through NextGenerationEU, the EU’s temporary recovery instrument, and in particular the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the EU has supported housing investments and reforms across the EU, with an estimated 1.5 million households benefiting from a better living situation and €18.1 billion invested in housing. That support includes renovation, energy efficiency, social housing and other measures that can reduce costs for households while improving the quality of the housing stock.