GOVERNMENT housing policy is turning rural Clare into somewhere people “come to take a photograph and go away and no one lives there”, a meeting has heard.
The meeting of the West Clare Municipal District heard calls for changes to the criteria for affordable housing under Housing for All – the government’s plan of dealing with the housing crisis
The meeting heard Clare currently doesn’t meet the selection criteria for affordable housing funding.
Clare County Council has asked the Department of Housing and Local Government to review the criteria for Ennis and Shannon.
Raising the issue, councillor Liam Grant (GP) asked, how many affordable purchase homes and cost rental homes are currently planned for West Clare in the near future?
Cllr Grant continued, “The private rental market has collapsed and Clare County Council need to do more to provide low to middle income earners with sustainable, long-term accommodation”.
Padraic MacCormaic, acting senior executive officer with the housing department said the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) is an open funding system under Housing for All allowing Local Authorities to submit proposals to deliver homes in areas with the greatest need for affordable housing intervention.
Mr MacCormaic outlined details of the Department of Housing and Local Government’s selection criteria and explained proposals
The meeting heard proposals located within the CSO settlement boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford) are eligible for AHF funding.
Mr MacCormaic continued, “However, proposals located outside the five cities must be located within local authority areas with a minimum average 5% Housing Need Demand Assessment (HNDA) Affordability Constraint for new housing demand over the period 2021 to 2026, calculated for the entire local authority area. The HNDA assessment of the Clare local authority area has not demonstrated this required affordability constraint and therefore does not meet the selection criteria allowing applications to be made by Clare County Council under the AHF. However, some flexibility has been introduced in those local authority areas which are not deemed to have an affordability challenge at a countywide level with respect to settlements over 10,000 population where local data supports an affordable need”.
“In consideration of the above Clare County Council has initiated engagement with the DHLGH requesting a review of eligibility for the towns of Ennis and Shannon. However we are unable to request a review for settlements in West Clare MD at this time as population figures don’t meet the required criteria”.
At the meeting, Cllr Grant said, “Looking though the response here, it says housing for all but it doesn’t seem like there is any housing for rural areas. We are seeing some social housing, but I think the there has to be housing for all in the sense that we have social housing and rental / affordable housing as well”.
Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) told the meeting the figure of 10,000 should apply to catchments and not town centre boundaries.
“Fáilte Ireland and our tourism industry need to look at this as well because it is not going to be acceptable that it is a place that you come to take a photograph and go away and nobody lives there. Nobody in this chamber should be shy in standing up and saying we need to have affordable living. Who is going to work in these places? Where are they going to live? That has to be part of what a logical view of how a sustainable future is and what sustainable tourism looks like”, he added.
