CITY TRIBUNE
Evictions and rising rents lead to hike in homeless
The homeless crisis continues to deepen in Galway amid a continuing shortage of homes, rising rents and skyrocketing rates of eviction.
Galway Simon CEO, Karen Golden, said that since the Covid-19 moratorium on evictions was lifted last year, it was getting ‘more and more difficult’ to support people out of homelessness.
The ban on evictions, which was introduced when people were restricted from travelling beyond 5km of their homes, had brought a welcome reprieve and resulted in a steady fall in homelessness figures, said Ms Golden.
“It was a very tangible measure and it had a very positive impact,” continued Ms Golden.
“We supported 824 households last year, an increase of 26% on the previous year and a very significant proportion of that work was in the area of prevention.”
Prevention was key, she said, and Galway Simon worked tirelessly in seeking to keep households out of emergency accommodation, either through coming to an arrangement with their existing landlord or through sorting alternative accommodation.
“Through the years, we gave assisted a large number of households to either sustain the tenancy they had, or to find alternative accommodation, before they had to enter emergency accommodation [hotels, hostels and B&Bs].
“With the right supports, and it is challenging, we can and do prevent people becoming homeless and if you can avoid that trauma – particularly for children – it’s the best outcome because we know there can be ongoing complications in later years if not,” said Ms Golden.
Rent prices in Galway City and County were rising at an alarming rate, with city rates up by 53% over the last five years, while the county had experienced a 69% increase.
“There is a significant shortage of property and the prices are going up substantially. There are very few people or households whose income has increased in those percentages over that time.
“Because of the sparce rental sector, people are seeing increases in rent and because of that, we are also seeing an increase in food poverty and fuel poverty,” said Ms Golden.
“We are supporting people who are under significant stress.”
The shortage of housing was in all sectors and more private, affordable and social housing was required – particularly as small private landlords were leaving the market.
“There is a trend locally and nationally where there are small landlords exiting the market and that is not helping the situation.
“But there is still home that it is going to improve – we have accepted that it is going to take longer than we hoped because the shortage of housing is so severe. Until supply picks up, that shortage is going to continue,” said Ms Golden.
Nationally, the Simon Community has found in its ‘Locked Out’ report that low-income households were being blocked from entering the rental market because of the shortage of properties available within the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) limit.
Galway City suburbs was one of five areas nationally where in December 2021, there were no properties in any category – couple, couple/one parent and one child and couple/one parent and two children – within standard or discretionary Rent Supplement or HAP limits.
Wayne Stanley, Head of Policy for the Simon Communities, said despite an overall increase in housing stock nationally, the problem of unaffordable rents was escalating.
“The distance between HAP rates and market cost means that topping up is rife and becoming more unsustainable. We see it across our food services where people come in for food and support the last week of the month as they don’t have anything left.
“We must respond with solutions that will prevent individuals and families from being evicted into homelessness,” said Mr Stanley.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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