Radical State-led action needed to provide citizens with homes – Moynihan
Labour Party representative for Dublin South-Central, Councillor Rebecca Moynihan, has called on Dublin City Council to put together a compulsory purchase order to acquire the Player Wills’ site on the South Circular Road for cost rental and affordable housing to buy.
Councillor Moynihan said:
“For over a decade now the Player Wills’ site on the South Circular Road has laid vacant. The site has been passed through the hands of Grant Thornton and NAMA. This site has the potential to have over 500 social and affordable homes, in conjunction with the social housing on St Teresa’s Gardens land but instead the site lies vacant.
“This is valuable land in one of the most accessible parts of Dublin City centre and could provide many good and secure homes for those that need it. Frustratingly, since 2008 no movement has been made on this prime site.
“Getting access to affordable, secure housing and quality rental accommodation is impossible for too many people in my area and right across Dublin. We know that the demand is there for affordable housing, but the State needs to start acquiring appropriate sites like the Player Wills and start building housing along with appropriate community facilities.
“After years of private market failure, we must provide for a new model to tackle the housing crisis and it is time we took radical action to provide our citizens with homes. The Government’s reliance on private developers, and the practice of land speculation, means that enough affordable homes will never be built. The supply crisis can only be sustainably resolved through long-term State action.”