PETER MCVERRY TRUST, the national housing and homeless charity, has announced a major new construction programme of social housing units.

Over the next 12 months, the charity plans to deliver over 210 social housing units via construction, leasing, re-use of empty buildings and acquisition.

Construction projects will deliver new social housing units in locations including Dublin, Limerick, and Kildare with over 70% of those units due to be one-bedroom apartments.

It comes as the charity published its annual report for 2019 at a new construction project on Haddington Road, Dublin 4 where Peter McVerry Trust will deliver 18 new social housing units.

Pat Doyle, CEO of Peter McVerry Trust, said: “Last year was very busy for us, with many key developments within the organisation.

“Among those was the significant expansion of our Housing First work as we secured new contracts in Dublin, the Midlands, the Mid-East and the North East regions which will see us delivering 61% of the national Housing First programme.”

“Launching our report here today at this construction site on Haddington Road ties in with our goal to grow and expand our Housing First work.

This development will deliver 18 one-bedroom homes and will enable us to provide more homes for people targeted by Housing First as well as others in homelessness and leaving State care.

“The single biggest barrier facing the roll-out of Housing First is the lack of available one-bedroom homes across our cities and towns. That is why we are trying to play a more active role in supplying those homes directly with funding from the local authorities and the Department of Housing.”

Peter McVerry Trust’s annual report shows that the charity was active across 21 local authorities at the end of 2019. The report also shows that the charity worked with 6,184 people across Ireland last year.

The report also covers key areas of Peter McVerry Trust’s services, including its Housing First work across 11 counties as well as the charity’s new second-level specialist Learning Centres in Dublin.

“We want to ensure we create high-quality homes that are sustainable in both design and location. Our goal is to deliver several small scale projects, scattered across cities and large towns, to avoid large concentration in any one community,” Doyle said.

The charity said it also expects 2020 to be its best year yet on housing delivery, as it ramps up social housing provision by reusing long term vacant units as social housing.