Hopefully they all look like they’re straight out of an IKEA showroom catalogue.

Social housing is in an interesting era. As the housing crisis deepens, the demand for affordable social housing is growing. And we’re seeing action from the unlikeliest contenders. Over the summer, Diageo submitted plans to build The Guinness Quarter, with 20 per cent of all residential units being social housing.

Now, another player has entered the game. The Ingka Group, the parent company of home store haven IKEA, has announced that they will invest 100 million euro into building 150 social housing units over three years in the greater Dublin area.

Upon completion, the company will lease the homes on a long-term basis to the relevant local authority. According to the Ingka Group, they will treat the rental payments like mortgage repayments. This will allow the transfer of all homes to the local authorities at the end of the lease term.

IKEA’s parent store also plans to build playgrounds and community centres in the surrounding areas.

The IKEA vision

According to Peter van der Poel, Ingka Investments managing director, “Ingka Group is guided by the IKEA vision to create a better everyday life for the many.”

“We hope this project will provide an innovative, community focused template for social housing provision in Ireland, demonstrating a new way for companies like ours to be part of the solution.”

We did not have “IKEA builds social housing in Dublin” on our 2022 bingo cards. But if a corporation is going to control the housing and safety of 150 households, it might as well be a corporation who really know how to set up a showroom. A house full of DAGSTORPs and YPPERLIGs sounds like the dream to be perfectly honest. The instructions to build the house will be hard, though.

Fast action from other social housing providers is yet to be seen. In July 2022, Dublin City Council had only built seven per cent of the housing it promised to build by June 2022. With the lack of affordable housing in Dublin, beggars can’t be choosers.

Elsewhere on District: MetroLink Dublin submits planning application to An Bord Pleanála