Social Housing Need as Bad as 1964

Ireland’s largest housing charity contends that the need for social housing is at 1960 levels with numbers on waiting lists set to increase dramatically in the coming months. At the Respond! National Conference in Naas, Co Kildare today, May 7th, the housing charity maintains the recent cut of almost €300 million in social housing funding will have a detrimental effect on the most vulnerable members of our society. The Conference examines how Government needs to change its stance in protecting the most vulnerable in our society.
“A bold and optimistic stance is required of our Government” Respond! spokesman John Hannigan suggests. “Now is the time to increase funding for social housing; prices are lower, tenders are more competitive and there is a huge need for employment in the construction sector. Respond! could double our output of housing for lower income families if funding was increased. This would help get people back to work and provide real hope for the community.”
Hannigan argues that after twenty years of unprecedented growth, the social housing need is as bad now as it was 45 years ago.
“In 1964, social housing need in Ireland was 60,000 families. We are now at a similar level and will surpass it in the coming months with unemployment set to increase by almost 300,000 by the end of 2010. During the boom years, it was clear that the Government focussed on the private housing market to the detriment of social housing. It seems unbelievable that Local Authority housing waiting lists grew by 30% to 56,000 families during this period. Throughout the Celtic Tiger, social housing barely accounted for 5% of all housing, compared to 30% of all housing during the recessionary 1980s.“
According to one of the key speakers, Noeline Blackwell, Director General of FLAC, it is the most vulnerable that are likely to suffer during this recession.
“The apparent equality of the law turns out – yet again – to favour those who are better resourced and near the seats of power and influence. This is particularly evident in the area of housing. This is why FLAC now hopes that the current economic downturn will lead to a more realistic assessment of the harm that has resulted to vulnerable sectors of society from a failure of financial consumer protection. We hope that an assessment, such as is happening at this Respond! Conference, will lead to recognition of the obligation to protect those that should have been protected at an earlier time.”
With alarming increases in repossession cases being heard by the High Court every week, decreasing social housing funding means there will be no hope for these families if Local Authorities cannot meet their housing needs. The housing charity claims Government needs to be positive in respect of social housing, especially with falling construction costs.
Respond! has constructed more than 4500 homes in Ireland and contend that they could provide 1000 additional homes in the coming year if funding were made available by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Respond! maintains that this would not only help decrease housing waiting lists but would also curtail rising unemployment in the construction sector and decrease the number of people seeking social welfare assistance. In addition, there would be increased tax revenues for the Government through income tax, value added tax, PRSI, PAYE, capital gains tax, corporation tax and stamp duty.