Kilkenny County Council 2026 housing budget explained

As the housing crisis continues to dominate the national conversation, Kilkenny County Council has moved to address the issue locally in their 2026 budget with significantly increased investment in the area for the coming year.

The Council unanimously approved a €129.4m budget last week, a rise of €8.9m from 2025, with €6.1m of this being allocated to its housing expenditure in an attempt to negate high inflation. The total housing budget now stands at €36.9m, a 19.8% increase.

As this budget is entirely separate to the Council’s capital spending under the Housing for All plan, the majority of outlay will go towards maintaining existing stock, getting vacant properties into use and working with Approved Housing Bodies (AHB) to add new units in the county.

Rental accommodation schemes and leasing is the largest single cost area at €17.5m, a 35.6% boost which includes a 45.8% rise in AHB leasing expenditure to €7m. This is money paid quarterly to independent non-profits that provide affordable housing, reflecting the large increase in units delivered by such organisations.

The push nationally to reduce the number of empty and derelict properties to alleviate the housing crisis is reflected locally with vacant homes grants being almost doubled to €4.5m, fully funded from the Government. 

The emphasis on every available home being filled quickly is also driven by a 63% increase in the funding for voids, costs related to the repair of houses which have been vacated and returned to Council management in order to get them back in use as promptly as possible.

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Organisations such the Good Shepherd Centre, Kilkenny Voluntary Housing Association and Amber Refuge Centre will avoid any cuts as a 15% rise in funding for homeless services will bring its total allocation to €2m and housing grants have been given an 18.8% boost to €2.8m.

Though the volume and complexity of housing figures in the news can often be detached from real change, it is hoped that tenants in the council housing system will see tangible improvements such as retrofitted houses, savings on energy costs and cleaner energy being installed.

Kilkenny County Council responded to almost 7,000 maintenance calls last year with this demand prompting an 10.5% jump in the maintenance budget to €9.1m. 

Included in this is an increase of a quarter on apartment facilities management spending which is reflective of the need to diversify housing to stock to meet modern challenges according to Council Financial Management Accountant, Michael Leahy.

“In city areas there’s such a shortage of land that we have to try and find ways of fitting more housing into smaller areas,” Michael outlines.

“It’s a change in culture and it takes time for people to get used to apartments, which traditionally wouldn’t be in Kilkenny, it’s more like the bigger cities but I think it’s something that’s here to stay and here for the future,” he adds.

In order to maintain Council services around inflation, the decision to raise commercial rates for just the third time in 15 years to fund the spending was made. However, a waiver scheme minimises the blow to smaller businesses by cutting this from 4% to 2% for the more than half of all premises paying €3,000 or less per year.

The average cost increase for these businesses will be €30 annually, an initiative which balances the impact of rising rates with the need to boost revenue for services like housing.

“We have our local enterprise office on one hand, trying to help new businesses grow and stay operating, but obviously for us to maintain the services, we have to increase commercial rates to generate income,” Michael concludes.

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