Peter McVerry Trust said it is aiming to deliver 300 new homes during the time the rental eviction moratorium is in place. The charity is working on accelerating delivery and secure new housing delivery opportunities to reduce homelessness in the coming months.

Speaking on site at one of the charity’s social housing construction projects in Rathmines, Dublin the charity’s CEO Pat Doyle, said “The eviction moratorium that is in place from November to the end of March is something we sought and fully welcome. The five months that it is effective will allow some of the projects that have been delayed to come on stream, it should reduce the number of people coming into homelessness and gives us a window of opportunity to ramp up delivery.”

“Housing delivery is traditionally strongest in the final quarter of the year, but we are working on not only having strong delivery in Q4 but starting off the new year with equally strong delivery as well. If we can do that over the course of five months, we hope to be in a position to deliver 300 homes while the moratorium is in place.”

“To put that delivery in context, in the whole of 2021 we delivered just under 200 new homes so to get 300 homes over the line demonstrates the effort and resources we are putting into securing these homes and maximising the space afforded by the eviction ban. We believe that working in partnership with colleagues in local authorities, the Housing Agency and the Department of Housing that we can deliver on this target and are well advanced in our delivery pipeline.”

“It is our aim to make sure that every unit that can be secured for social housing is secured and that we continue to work as quickly and effectively as possible to grow key responses such as Housing First and reduce the number of people in homelessness right across Ireland.”