Dublin South West representative Seán Crowe TD has described the strategy of Housing Minister Alan Kelly as another “leg up” for developers, speculators and private landlords.
Crowe’s comments came on the back of the latest housing targets issued by the Department of Environment to South Dublin County Council reveals that of the 3,180 housing units to be funded over the next 3 years, more than 90% will be for subsidised private rented accommodation and a tiny minority, 350 of these units will be for Social Housing.
Deputy Seán Crowe said:
“The announcement today of funding for housing by Minister Kelly to South Dublin County Council over the next three years to house 3,180 families from its housing list is on the surface, to be welcomed.
“The downside is that more than 90% of these new units will be for subsidised private rented accommodation and a tiny minority, a miserly 350 of these units will be for Social Housing.
“Across the State this will equate to about 600 homes being built a year for 100,000 plus on the various housing lists.”
“Families trapped on the housing lists or homeless, desperately want to hear some positive news but this hasn’t been forthcoming in recent years. We have heard announcement after announcement but unfortunately with very little new money or additional resources being mentioned.
“Sinn Féin have consistently argued for additional investment including1 billion from the Strategic Investment Fund to be spent on Social Housing, which by current government figures would build an extra 5400 housing builds with the added bonus of extra employment.
“The big winners from the Housing Minister will be developers, housing speculators and private landlords.
“More than half of those being housed over the next 3 years from South Dublin’s list will be in year to year private sector leases in the Housing Assistance Payment that will effectively leave them trapped with no long term security of tenure and reliant on the goodwill of a landlord or a developer.
“Another 1,000 families will be in leases of between 4 and 10 years in the Rental Accommodation Scheme and Long Term Leasing Initiative again facing the same uncertainty.
“So after much fanfare the long awaited new approach with the Minister promising an urgent response, South Dublin families are still caught on the housing list merry go round that is in reality going nowhere.
“The country is supposed to have turned an economic corner but there is no evidence of that for anyone waiting on Local Authority housing waiting lists.
Note for EditorIn terms of South Dublin County Council targets set for 2015-2017 are
RAS/Leasing 1,095 Units. 350 Units to include Construction, Acquisitions, CAS, Part V, Voids –
Breakdown of the 350 units not available. The HAP target for 2015 is 1735 units.