Social housing policy and provision: A changing regime?

This chapter examines the changing regime of social housing policy and provision in Ireland. It argues that significant transformations are occurring in social housing, involving an increasingly prominent role for private provision in several aspects of delivery and financing. Some of these transformations can be traced to policy shifts dating back over two decades; however, they have been given added impetus since the economic crisis of 2008. While official policy discourse conceptualises increased reliance on private provision as a shift towards tenure neutrality and as a pragmatic response to borrowing and supply constraints, particularly given an improved regulatory framework, it has overlooked certain negative consequences of these transformations, primarily the dilution of housing security and the uncertainty of household access given the volatile nature of much of this private provision.