Wait list for social housing ‘up 46pc’
THE waiting list of those in desperate need of social housing has grown by an alarming 46 per cent in just two years, figures show.
Worrying data from councils show there may be as many as 130,000 in need of a home.
Up to now Government spokesmen have been relying on figures from 2013, which indicated that there were 89,000 on the list.
But figures obtained by Fianna Fáil through Freedom of Informa- tion put the number at 130,000, a rise of 41,000 or 46 per cent.
Its environment spokesman Barry Cowen said: ‘The Government has sleepwalked itself from a problem, to a crisis, to an emergency into what I believe is now a scandal.’
Government sources said the upto-date figures may include duplication. A spokesman for Environment Minister Alan Kelly said it was ‘more bluff and bluster’ from Fianna Fáil.
But Niamh Randall, of homeless charity Simon, said: ‘We are seeing the impact of rising rents and reduced housing supply every day.
‘People on low incomes and those in receipt of rent supplement can no longer afford rental payments and are being pushed over the edge into homelessness.’
Fianna Fáil figures reveal the number of families and individuals waiting for a home has doubled to 2,965 from 1,479 in Enda Kenny’s own local authority, Mayo County Council.
Dublin City Council has the larg- est waiting list in the country at 21,015 on the housing list, up 30 per cent from the 2013’s figure of 16,171.
Fianna Fáil accused the Government of trying to mask the problem and said the Coalition relied on figures that are two years old.
Mr Cowen said: ‘Minister Kelly claims that he has the housing crisis under control.
‘However these figures reveal that the crisis is far worse than we imagined. We have to start getting to grips with it by building
‘A crisis has turned into a scandal’
homes that families want to live in.’
But a spokesman for Mr Kelly said: ‘Fianna Fáil did not allocate a cent for house purchases or leases for low-income households in their pre-budget submission. When it came to homelessness services, again their allocation was zero.’
He said Fianna Fáil ‘left their Galway tent friends get away from their social housing commitments and this Government is picking up the pieces’.