Local authorities will have to set targets for delivering social housing to people with disabilities in the next housing action plan to run from 2027.The targets will apply to disabled people who can live more independently in the community with some supports, and to those who need specialist 24/7 wraparound supports, Minister for Equality Norma Foley has announced.The Minister said the Local Authority Housing Delivery Action Plans 2027-2030 “will be published in the coming months”.She told the Fianna Fáil ardfheis: “I truly believe that this will be a game-changer because there will be a pipeline of homes for the people with disabilities who need them most. “Councils will supply the homes and my department via the HSE, will supply the funding for the staff and services that people with disabilities need to live in these new homes.”Social housing allocations for disabled people increased from 1,917 tenancies in 2022 to 2,924 in 2024.Between 2024 and 2025, however, more than two thirds of the 465 new housing places for people with disabilities with complex needs have been delivered by commercial providers rather than through social or affordable housing.The State currently provides housing for 8,911 disabled people with complex needs around the country, including staff and back up support. However, there is continuous demand and appropriate housing provision is often not available locally.[ ‘I have been told a minimum of 11 years waiting’: On the housing list as a wheelchair userOpens in new window ]The Minister acknowledged “disabled people have not been a priority for social and affordable housing”. “We know the impact this has – people with disabilities not getting the chance to live independently on their own, and their elderly parents worrying what is going to happen to them once they are no longer around,” she added.Foley said housing had to be provided for people with disabilities “in every corner of Ireland”. No single government department could do this and “that is why Minister for Housing James Browne and I have been working really hard to drive this forward,” she said.The aim is to create a pipeline of social homes, particularly for those with complex needs, allowing a move away from a heavy reliance on emergency purchases from commercial providers of housing placements.Under the new Delivering Homes, Building Communities plan, each local authority will prepare a new action strategy for housing delivery for those with disabilities, over the four years to 2030. The plans must lay out clear targets for housing delivery for disabled people for each council for the first time, particularly for those requiring specialist disability residential services. Specific numbers for each council will be contained in the plan, it is understood.