Housing kickstart in pipeline

A new Government initiative aims to kick-start construction of new homes in Galway, where thousands are on social housing waiting lists.

Junior Minister for Environment, Paudie Coffey, has confirmed he will set-up a special taskforce aimed at addressing the lack of supply of new housing units in the city and county.

The special Galway taskforce will be modelled on the Housing Supply Co-ordination Taskforce for Dublin which was established to renew the construction sector and solve the Capital’s housing shortage.

The Dublin taskforce included four local authorities, as well as representatives from NAMA, and other relevant housing and planning agencies. In Galway it is likely both the City and County Councils will be represented on the taskforce. It is expected to be established in the coming weeks.

The immediate focus of the taskforce is expected to be “to address supply-related issues to the delivery of housing units” across Galway. The group will be asked to look at identifying housing developments that have been granted planning permission but which have not yet started, to see if they can be delivered in the short-term.

The Dublin taskforce late last year revealed that more than 80,000 new housing units could be built on land that has been earmarked for residential zoning. Up to 18,000 of the new units earmarked already had planning permission, and were serviced by the proper infrastructure such as sewage, water and roads connections.

Minister Coffey also signalled that he plans to introduce a ‘use it or lose’ it clause for planning permissions, which would act as a stick to encourage developers to start building again.

He said he plans to give local authorities the power to reduce the amount of time allowed to develop new estates from the when the planning permission was granted. Currently developers have five years from the date planning is granted and  they can apply for extensions. The change in laws could also boost housing supply in Galway City where up to 15,000 people are on a the local authority housing waiting list.  Meanwhile, Minister Coffey was in Galway Mayo Institute of Technology last week where he said “confidence and activity” was returning to the construction sector.

Speaking at GMIT’s annual international construction management day, he said that some 13,000 more people were now employed in construction in 2014 compared with the previous year. Housing completions were also up by 32% year-on-year, he said.

Minister Coffey re-iterated Government’s commitment to invest €3.8 billion in delivering 35,000 new social houses over the next six years – in Galway, it is estimated that it will result in hundreds of new homes.