The Government’s social housing policy in Donegal has come under sharp criticism after it emerged that just 153 social houses were delivered last year.
There are fears that social housing targets will not be met locally, given that there are 2,500 households with a long term housing need in Donegal.
Donegal Senator Padraig Mac Lochlainn says the government needs to ‘wake up to the housing crisis in Donegal’.
Figures obtained by the Sinn Féin Senator show that Donegal County Council and Approved Housing Bodies built 74 social houses in 2018 and an additional 79 houses were purchased by both the council and Approved Housing Bodies.
Senator MacLochlainn commented: “Given that there are approximately 2,500 households with a long term housing need in Donegal including families on the council housing waiting list and families availing of housing supports such as the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) or the Rental Assistance Scheme (RAS), it is clear that the Governments social housing targets for Donegal under Rebuilding Ireland will come nowhere near meeting existing or new demand.”
He added: “The 2018 figures also confirms once again the Governments over-reliance on private rented sector to meet social housing need. And this huge over-reliance in Donegal on the private sector to house families has squeezed the numbers of properties available to rent, pushed up rental costs for tenants across the county and increased pressure on other working families not able to avail of housing assistance payments.”
As families face increased difficulties sourcing landlords that will accept Housing Assistance Payments, Senator MacLochlainn said: “The Government needs to wake up to the scale of the housing crisis across Donegal. For the government to make a real dent in the housing crisis it needs to dramatically increase capital investment in social and affordable housing. We need to see more investment and more ambitious targets.”
He also called on the local authority to re-examine the housing zoning policies across many towns and villages across the county.
