Provision of Laois Social and Affordable Housing Held Up

“Laois Social and Affordable Housing Held Up By Dead hand of the Department and Housing Agency”

Local Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has called for the Committee to scrutinise a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) on delays in social housing provision.

The report, which was released this week, highlights 29 sites owned by the State for social and affordable housing which have absolutely no plans or proposals in place despite being found by the C&AG to be ready for immediate development. Six of these sites are in County Laois and are now owned by the Housing Agency.

Speaking earlier, Deputy Stanley said:

“Despite there being a housing crisis across the County which needs to be urgently addressed, we’ve been provided with evidence that 6 sites owned by the State are sitting there for years with no plans or development proposals in place for social housing. Laois County Council to their credit have been active in developing 3 sites that were included in this bundle but due to the slow pace the Department of Housing move at, there is no house building planned on the other 6.

Laois Social and Affordable Housing Provision held up

“What’s worse is that a review by the C&AG has found that all 29 sites in the State are ready for immediate development, all they need is a plan or development proposal. It is completely unacceptable.

“The C&AG also found that 4 of those 29 sites have the potential to provide up to 781 housing units.

“We have an entire generation of young people currently locked out of owning their own home and yet we have acres of land sitting ready for development without a proposal.

“We urgently need to provide affordable homes to purchase and cost-rental schemes for those who are just above the income threshold for council housing but are not earning enough to secure a mortgage. Several of these families are caught in this limbo situation and trapped in Private Rented Accommodation.

“As the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, I will be asking the Committee to address this matter as a priority. We need to know what has been happening with these sites, why no action has been taken and what timeline can be put in place to get things moving.”