LOCAL councillors this week vented their anger at the news that a property owner had opted to take houses in Clonakilty out of an Affordable Housing scheme.
Cork County Council confirmed it was also ‘extremely disappointed’ that, after negotiating to buy a number of houses, and getting the funding approved, the owner decided not to go ahead with the plan.
This news came about, ironically, on the same week that the government was left red-faced after it was revealed that its own report into housing concluded its targets were way off the mark.
In short, the measures being put in place currently will in no way solve the current housing crisis.
Of course, solving the current crisis would also solve – at least to some degree – the immigration crisis, which sees hundreds of people having to find a spot to pitch a tent in our capital city each week.
And both stories emerged this week as another 100 or so tents were being removed from the Grand Canal banks in Dublin with the tent owners being ferried out of the city to locations in Dundrum and beyond Tallaght – despite all the services they need access to, in order to register for asylum and refugee status, are only available in the city centre.
It may seem a like a bit of stretch to say that building family homes can put a dent in the immigration crisis, but if we had more homes available overall, everybody seeking a house could at least move up the chain, rents would fall, and more housing would become accessible to all – be it for purchase or lease.
And the housing currently allocated to long-term homeless could then be freed up, in part at least, for new arrivals on our shores.
For anyone looking in from the outside, to see the juxtaposition of these three stories – the Council losing 22 potential social housing units, coupled with a report saying we are not building enough new homes, to 100+ tents being removed off the canal banks of the capital – they would surely say Ireland’s housing strategy is a basket case.
Where did all go so badly wrong?
A lack of forward planning and the decision to move social housing construction into the private sector would surely loom large as causes.
The report, which the government commissioned in good faith, could now be the sword upon which it may fall – at least in the local elections.
The leaked reports suggest the government was planning to hold onto the damning document for a few weeks at least – which would suggest it was fearful of its effect on the upcoming local elections.
But somehow, it was leaked to the press with just over two weeks to polling day. Compiled by the government’s own Housing Commission, it has estimated that Ireland is in need of almost 260,000 homes to get back on track.
It also suggested a ‘radical strategic reset of housing policy’ – both revelations which clearly point to its total lack of confidence in the current strategy.
The suggestion that 256,000 homes are now needed is a figure that is just to cater for current demand, based on CSO statistics, and not taking into account population growth or pressure from continued immigration.
But the Government’s Housing for All plan targets the construction of just 33,000 homes each year up to 2030, while the Housing Commission estimates this figure needs to be closer to 60,000 to meet current projected demands.
That means we are only targeting half of what the country actually needs, even if there was no increase in either population or immigration, up to 2030.
Is it any wonder there may have been a suggestion to keep a lid on this until after the elections?
Or that West Cork councillors made such a fuss this week when they heard they were losing just 22 homes off the projected social housing list? In such a crisis of the government’s own making, every home counts.
