Government failing to tackle the Housing Crisis

16 November 2017

Galway City Labour Councillor Niall McNelis has slammed the Government for it’s failure to tackle the housing crisis in a meaningful way despite the many suggestions that have been forward. Labour is holding a public meeting on Thursday night in Glaway to discuss these solutions.

Cllr McNelis said:
“Despite much fanfare at the Budget, there was no extra money provided to build council housing that wasn’t already planned, nor any proposals put forward to bring in an affordable housing scheme. The private market has clearly failed and it is time now for the State to take a much more proactive approach in building and providing homes for people.

“This Thursday night we are holding a public meeting at 7.30pm in the Clybaun Hotel, Knocknacarra to discuss the type of solutions that are needed.

“Over the last two years the Labour Party has put forward a number of ideas and proposals to resolve the housing crisis, all of which Fine Gael and their supporters Fianna Fáil have refused to bring in.

  • Labour was the first Party to call for vacant homes to be brought back into use, and the CSO figures show that there are nearly 4,000 empty homes in Galway city. Over a year on we are still waiting on the Government to publish the Vacant Homes Strategy.
  • To cap rent increases at the rate of inflation to stop the gouging of renters and bring in a robust NCT style system to inspect rental properties to ensure they are up to standard. Voted down by FG and FF.
  • The re-purposing of NAMA as a National Housing Development and Finance Agency to intervene in the market and deliver affordable housing developments. The State must take a much more active role in financing public housing by picking up the slack from where private developers have failed. Instead FG have brought in a slush fund for developers while FF called for tax cuts.
  • Labour’s Alternative Budget had fully funded proposals to build an extra 5,000 public homes in 2018 to bring the total to be delivered in 2018 to nearly 11,000 homes. The Government’s current target is simply not enough given the current stalled phase of construction.

ENDS

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