The Chartered Institute of Housing Ireland (CIH Ireland) is calling for the implementation of five strategic actions to help support a more recognised, skilled, and resilient housing profession capable of meeting Ireland’s evolving housing challenges, following its release of a new report, called Elevating Excellence: The State of Housing Professionalism in Ireland.
The report identifies key barriers preventing housing from being widely recognised as a career of choice, including sector perception challenges, recruitment pressures, and limited structured professional pathways, with more than half of respondents relaying that there is no clear or shared definition of professionalism across the sector.
To address the challenges presented in the report, CIH Ireland proposes five actions: developing a professional qualifications framework, encouraging adoption of CIH professional standards, promoting housing as a career, strengthening tenant engagement skills, and launching a national professionalism initiative.
There is also strong sector support in the country for strengthening the profession, with three quarters of respondents backing the introduction of mandatory housing qualifications for senior professionals, reflecting the appetite for stronger professional frameworks. Within the report, it was recognised that the national housing workforce is driven by social purpose and a commitment to tenant wellbeing and delivering high-quality services on their behalf.
Commenting on the publication, CIH Ireland director Caroline Moloney said, “It’s an important milestone for the housing sector in Ireland. Our report highlights the commitment, strength of purpose, values and professionalism that already exist across the workforce as part of a collective effort to make a difference to tenants and communities across the country while also being honest about the gaps we need to address.”
The report is based on a survey commissioned by CIH Ireland, which ran between October and December 2025. It gathered 65 responses from housing professionals working across local authorities, approved housing bodies, government agencies, and the private sector.
Responding to the report, Technological University Dublin senior lecturer Dr Lorcan Sirr concluded: “This research demonstrates that housing as a public practice is neglected as a legitimate career, within the public sector in particular. Whilst showing that there is a desire amongst workers in housing to develop a career in the sector, it reinforces that today’s housing professionals would value, as an extra layer of job security, a qualification leading to a structured professional career path such as already exists for architects, planners and engineers, for example.
“As a social, physical and economic issue, housing is with us for the long haul. It is critical that the role of those involved in housing be professionally recognised in the sector, not just to the advantage of those currently working in it, but also, more importantly, to encourage the next generation of housing professionals.”
About the Chartered Institute of Housing
The Chartered Institute of Housing is the professional body for people who work in housing, the independent voice for housing, and the home of professional standards. CIH has a diverse membership of people who work in both the public and private housing sectors in 20 countries on five continents.
The organisation’s goal is to support housing professionals in creating a future in which everyone has a place to call home by providing them and their organisations with the advice, support, and knowledge they need.
CIH is a registered charity and not-for-profit organisation with any profit made put back into the organisation to fund the activities carried out to support the housing sector.