With 4,500 people on the waiting list for council housing in Galway city, public land at Sandy Road must be used for public housing, instead of being sold off by the Government’s new Land Development Agency.
This is the view of the People Before Profit Galway, which recently held a protest at Sandy Road to highlight the issue. The group fears that if the land comes under the LDA, it will be sold to a private developer, and the opportunity to develop social housing will be lost.
The Land Development Agency has proven highly controversial for how it bypasses decision making input by elected councillors, and for how it defines what is ‘affordable’ in terms of housing.
.
The LDA will periodically report to the Government on public lands which could be suitable for housing or urban development, and the Government may direct such lands be transferred to the LDA - without a vote from councillors. It can also develop 50 per cent or more of each site for private housing, with no minimum percentage requirement for affordable housing or social housing.
'Public housing is a social necessity and a public good. Development plans should reflect that'
The Minister for Housing can specify an affordability requirement for the delivery of affordable homes for sale or rent on public lands. However the LDA defines ‘affordable’ as ‘below the prevailing market price’. As a result, the scheme sets a cap of €400,000 for an “affordable” house in Galway and €450,000 in Dublin. Average home prices have shown an 8.6 per cent year-on-year increase.
"This is public land that is owned by the city and county councils, and other public bodies,” said PBP spokesperson Adrian Curran. “As it stands, most of this land will be used for unaffordable private development that will do nothing to address the housing crisis.”
.
Mr Curran pointed out that the average one bedroom apartment in Galway costs 64 per cent of the minimum wage, and that there was a 9.5 per cent increase in people accessing emergency homeless accommodation in Galway in the first three months of 2021.
"Building public housing has many positive benefits for the city and its population. It reduces homelessness and the long waiting list for housing,” said Mr Curran. “It creates a community as long-term tenants develop bonds and a feeling of ownership that doesn’t exist with short-term private rentals. Public housing is a social necessity and a public good. Development plans should reflect that."
