Galway City Council will ‘exceed’ target for social housing units

The Council expects to exceed its target to deliver 1,250 social housing units over the next five years.

A meeting of the local authority was told there was the potential to deliver ‘significant’ numbers over the next number of years – and when combined with returned properties and acquisitions, it was likely they would surpass the target set down by Government.

It was revealed that there were almost 4,200 names currently on the waiting list for social housing but Dermot Mahon from the Council’s Housing Department said they would make ‘significant progress’ in reducing that over the coming years.

“Over the last three years, we have allocated 711 permanent local authority properties which is probably the most we’ve ever achieved in a three year period,” he said, clarifying that this was done through a combination of Council-operated housing and estates managed by approved housing bodies (AHBs).

“We have seen increases in the numbers accessing the waiting list and while there has been an increase in the number of allocations, the number on the waiting list is also increasing.”

Social housing would continue to be delivered on an almost 50-50 split between Council houses and tenancies operated by AHBs – not-for-profit organisations that provide social housing to tenants from the Council list.

Mayor Colette Connolly (Ind) said the social housing crisis in Galway went back as far as 2004, long before the economic crash.

“Here we are in 2022, with 4,184 families on the waiting list – if you allow three for each family, that’s over 15,000 people waiting on a permanent home,” she said.

Mr Mahon said this was a crude figure, however, and argued that roughly 2,000 of those on the list were single-person households.

Cllr Alan Cheevers (FF) raised the issue of affordable housing and sought a timeline for the delivery of 85 units in Merlin Park and said while it was his understanding that the prices would be based on people’s income, that was not yet clear.

Cllr Mike Cubbard (Ind) accused the Government of giving people ‘false hope’ with affordable housing when it remained unclear just how affordable they would be.

“We need to come out with the facts and figures as to how anyone will qualify for affordable housing,” he said.

Cllr Cubbard proposed a motion calling on the Minister for Housing to provide the regulations and criteria for affordable housing, which was agreed unanimously.

Meanwhile, the meeting was told that the Glen Oaks on Bishop O’Donnell Road, which is currently used for emergency homeless accommodation, would no longer be available to the Council and homeless services from the end of next month.

Mr Mahon said the Glen Oaks was first operated in this capacity in 2019 for what was supposed to be one year, but this was extended due to Covid.

“The cold-weather response [homelessness service] will end at the end of April and Glen Oaks will no longer be available after that. We will have to make provision for cold-weather response beds at an alternative location,” he said.