County Councillor Declan Meehan has said that the Housing for All policy is not working for Donegal.
A special plenary meeting on housing yesterday saw councillors provided with a breakdown of targets and progress made by Donegal County Council under various schemes provided for by the Department of Housing.
“One example we were presented with was the much talked about Affordable Housing model,” Cllr. Meehan said.
“The government in Dublin have committed to a target of delivering 36,000 homes under this model, and yet there are no plans to deliver any affordable housing units in Donegal due to constraints and limitations under the department’s scheme.
“At best it was discussed the possibility of delivering 10 units in Letterkenny. This sort of return is laughable and clearly fails to grasp the dire situation we are in.”
An affordable housing survey carried out by the council identified just 19 financially viable applicants. Councillors were told that the median income of Donegal residents is 23% lower than the average in the state, locking many potential homeowners out.
Donegal County Council reported a significant demand for the scheme, with 270 submissions received in response to a recent survey.
Meanwhile, housing prices in Donegal have increased over the past three years by 37%, while rents have increased by 59% since 2021.
“This shows the desperate need for a multipronged approach to delivering housing in this county, including affordable housing, cost rentals, and social housing. It’s a simple supply and demand issue which sees house prices – and homelessness – rise every quarter” Meehan said.
Progress was shared on the Vacant Property Renovation Grant Scheme, which has been successful in delivering 46 previously vacant houses across the county into liveable conditions since July 2022, with one-third of these coming on to the rental market.
“Even this scheme has its issues,” Cllr Meehan said. “With bridging finance an obstacle for many to availing of the initiative.”
The special plenary meeting was also provided with an update on Housing Capital delivery across the county, i.e. social housing delivery.
“The numbers are too small, and progress is too slow,” said Cllr Meehan.
“For example, in the Milford Electoral Area alone 242 houses are needed to meet the current need. There are only ten houses in the pipeline, which it is hoped will be delivered by the end of 2026. One single project for the electoral area which delivers 4% of the actual need is not good enough. We need more delivery at scale as a matter of urgency” Meehan said.
“None of this takes into consideration the increase in demand for rental properties for those who are accessing the Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme. With no surplus homes available for people to rent, where are these people meant to live while their homes are being rebuilt?”
