Over 3,000 on Clare’s social housing waiting list

THERE are 3,076 approved applicants for social housing support in Clare, a report provided at a meeting of Clare County Council showed. Councillors called for the Government to start investing in housing, saying that the situation needs to be addressed.

A report by director of services, Ger Dollard acknowledged that demand is outstripping supply.

“At present, housing supply in Clare is not meeting growing housing need demand by our customers. The council is now in a position to progress new housing design and construction, if funding is approved at national level. The Council Budget 2015 is to provide for the ongoing maintenance and repair of existing housing stock, in order to continue to deliver quality accommodation provision to customers. This budget provision will need to take account of maintenance costs into the one county budget.

“Also, the fact that the amalgamated local authority has moved from a partly direct labour model for housing maintenance to full external contracting countywide. This requires a shift in the labour cost from payroll to housing maintenance in Budget 2015. The labour force involved are now benefiting from the delivery of roads services but the costs of building materials and construction costs for housing maintenance continue to increase,” he said.

Councillors Michael Hillery and PJ Ryan both had motions on housing and Councillor Hillery said it would be “timely” for the Government to start developing estates in Clare.

Councillor Ryan warned that, in the future, the council will have to deal with people being evicted from their homes, while he said there are a lot of reasonably priced houses in the Shannon area, which could be bought by the local authority.

“It’s an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed,” he claimed.

Fianna Fáil councillor, Cathal Crowe said there had been 70 applications for 12 houses in one South-East Clare development and he noted that “the cases are more stark and genuine than they have ever been”.