Housing crisis looming

Clare is facing a social housing list crisis after it emerged that nearly 2,500 people are currently awaiting local authority housing.

In the past 12 months, waiting lists nationwide increased by 35% but Clare bucked the national average by recording an increase of 167%, with those on the list waiting to be housed jumping from 900 last year to a current level of 2,407.
Deputy Joe Carey has acknowledged that Clare is facing huge social housing challenges, with the county now witnessing the second highest hike in numbers on the housing list in the country.
“Resources are being stretched to the limit and an already overworked housing department is struggling to cope with the increased demand for their services. We could be looking at a situation where families are years waiting to be housed.
“The problems have been created by rising unemployment in the Mid-West and tightening lending terms from banks and families struggling to make private rent payments. It is a very difficult time for thousands of Clare families and it is being reflected in the massive rise in demand for social housing,” he said.
“Every family needs a base and a sense of community and that will only come from having the opportunity to have a stable and long-term family home. There is a warning that some families will wait years to be accommodated. We cannot allow this happen.”
He claimed that throughout the country, housing estates are lying idle while the social housing list rises. “We need more joined up thinking. Here in County Clare, a major effort is now needed to ensure a housing crisis is averted,” he added.