Martin Whelan CEO of The Housing Agency: Making a tangible contribution

Having taken up the role of Chief Executive Officer of The Housing Agency in March 2025, Martin Whelan sits down with Housing Ireland Magazine to reflect on his initial observations of the housing sector and his current priorities.

Attending The Housing Agency’s annual housing practitioners’ conference in April 2025, Whelan was immediately struck by two observations. Firstly, the prevailing interconnectedness of stakeholders across the housing system, and secondly, the extent to which an ethos of genuine collaboration exists.

“The Housing Agency’s model is embedded in that collaboration,” the CEO observes, adding: “Engagement is crucial. The Agency exists to collaborate, support, and inform. That will remain a key feature of our approach, and we will continue to act as an important conduit within the overall system.”

Describing the the culture of the Agency as “mission-led” and “outcome-orientated”, Whelan emphasises: “Among my colleagues, there is an overarching focus on making a tangible contribution to resolving the housing crisis. That is a powerful asset. It is also a culture I have observed more generally across the sector.”

Organisational excellence

In recent years, The Housing Agency has grown significantly, consolidating its presence in the housing system, both in terms of policy development and relevant programme delivery.

Remarking on his priorities for the Agency, Whelan emphasises “the need to ensure that The Housing Agency is optimally positioned from an organisational perspective to embrace the next stage of its evolution”.

Currently, the Agency is delivering an extensive programme of applied research. Most recently, this has spotlit Limerick City and County Council’s model to tackle dereliction while separate research looked at the coordination of delivery of key enabling infrastructure in Cherrywood, south County Dublin.

In terms of broader housing policy, The Housing Agency recently completed and published the Summary of Social Housing Assessments for 2024 and contributed to the Government’s review of rent pressure zones, recently publishing the Review of Rent Pressure Zones Report.

Housing delivery

Simultaneously, Whelan’s organisation is undertaking “a significant body of work in relation to delivery of significant numbers of new cost rental homes” – including via the Cost Rental Equity Loan scheme (CREL) and the Secure Tenancy and Affordable Rental scheme (STAR) – as well as delivering the Croí Cónaithe (Cities) scheme to bridge the viability gap and enable apartment construction for sale to owner-occupier households.

“Among my colleagues, there is an overarching focus on making a tangible contribution to resolving the housing crisis…”
Martin Whelan, Chief Executive Officer of The Housing Agency

“These schemes are being delivered at a time when private sector investment in residential development has declined,” he asserts, adding: “We are helping to activate extant housing that would not otherwise be delivered.”

Focused on the continued delivery of these schemes, The Housing Agency engages with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on a daily basis, “sharing our perspectives and insights from the execution of those schemes, determining what works, what could work better, where there are opportunities, and where there are challenges”.

Perhaps most significantly, a major focus for the Agency currently is supporting the Government’s development of a new national housing plan to succeed Housing for All and gearing up to drive any new relevant initiatives that emerge from that plan.

Report of The Housing Commission

Reflecting on the Report of The Housing Commission one year on from its publication in May 2024, Whelan reveals that “many of the tenets underpinning the report are already factored into the new housing plan”.
“The Housing Agency has carried out an analysis of 23 priority recommendations contained within the report – as prioritised by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage – and we have provided a perspective on those and will continue this engagement,” he says.

“It is an iterative process. It is not the case that the execution or implementation of these priority recommendations is waiting some finite date in the future. Our analysis is now complete and is very much part of the policy formulation process in relation to the new plan.”

Challenges

Discussing the prevailing factors fuelling the housing crisis, Whelan identifies the availability of zoned serviced land as a “long-term fundamental challenge”. “We understand that local authorities are struggling to find appropriate zoned and serviced land, to deliver in the here and now,” he says.

Meanwhile, given the planning policy and climate policy context in which housing is delivered, multi-unit developments in the urban landscape are set to play an increasing role in the wider system. However, the viability of apartment development remains a significant challenge. “We observe this continued challenge in the delivery of Croí Cónaithe,” Whelan says.

Increased housing supply is a means to an end, but it is not an end in and of itself for The Housing Agency. “Rather, supply is an enabler of a more accessible, affordable, and sustainable housing system,” the Agency’s CEO insists.

These are multifaceted challenges, and all arms of the State are involved in resolving them. Asserting that government deserves credit for its successful introduction of cost rental as a new tenure in Ireland, and for driving affordable purchase initiatives, Whelan observes: “The State has stepped into the breach when private sector investment stepped away. Particularly in the apartment space, the State has sought to address some of the more fundamental challenges we face around viability, affordability, and activating housing supply.”

However, The Housing Agency’s CEO acknowledges that the housing system does not operate in a vacuum and macro headwinds – not least the interest rate environment, the flow of institutional capital, and geopolitical events – continue to have a detrimental impact.

Ambitions

Describing the strategic vision of the board as per The Housing Agency’s recently-published statement of strategy as “a compelling starting point for me as the new CEO”, Whelan outlines: “Our focus on organisational excellence is accentuated in the statement of strategy and I will help to drive that, consolidating what has been achieved to date.”

Asked to summarise his ambition for The Housing Agency, Whelan is succinct: “Our ambition is simple: we want to deliver.” Pledging to continue driving the schemes within the Agency’s remit and delivering homes for people through various forms of tenure, he maintains that “in supporting some of the most vulnerable cohorts of people in the housing system, social inclusion and sustainability will remain a priority”.

“In summary, organisational excellence, continued delivery, and leveraging our partnerships are important objectives for me and they are shared by the board and the wider organisation,” he concludes.