10 May 2017
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Choice Based Letting Scheme will flounder without new social houses – says TD
Things were better for Cork Councils under my Fianna Fail Party – indicates TD
Cork North West TD, Aindrias Moynihan
Cork North West TD, Aindrias Moynihan (Fianna Fail) has said that Cork’s Social Housing Crisis will continue to deteriorate unless Minister Simon Coveney “opens his purse strings, and provides the funding that local authorities urgently need to build public housing.”
Deputy Moynihan was commenting after it emerged that the State provided Cork County Council with €21 million in 2016 to fund or acquire social housing units in the county.
“This is just 33% of the funding provided by the last Fianna Fáil Government in 2009 to the Cork County Council. In that year, €64 million was provided to the local authority.
“There has been much hopeful enthusiasm recently with the full roll out of the Choice Based Letting scheme across the county, with those seeking social housing able to, in effect, bid for their chosen houses in areas that they want to live in.
“The problem lies in the fact that if no new social houses are built in the county, options for people to bid on will quickly dry up and we will be in a situation where people won’t have any units to bid on.
“The current government, and the previous one, talk a great game on housing delivery. Day in, day out, they seek to portray themselves as an administration that is delivering on housing.
“The targets that Minister Coveney has set for himself, and his Government, are very unlikely to be met unless he dramatically increases State funding to local authorities to build and acquire new social housing stock.
“Those who are enthusiastically applying under the Choice Based Letting scheme will be let down more unless there is additional funding released to the local authorities to build the houses they want to apply for,” concluded Moynihan.
