Galway city will need 4,433 houses by 2028, and of these 1,575 will need to be social housing and 903 will have to be affordable housing, if the city is to seriously tackle the growing local authority waiting list.
The figures come from estimates within the Galway City Council’s Housing Need and Demand Assessment Strategy, which is part of the drafting of the new City Development Plan. They have also prompted one councillor to demand that the construction of social, affordable, and cost rental housing become the key focus of the coyote council over the next seven years.
At a recent meeting of the Galway City Council, Social Democrats Galway City East councillor, Owen Hanley, proposed a motion that housing developments by the Land Development Agency in Galway should focus on the construction of social, affordable, and cost rental housing.
Development plan
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While council officials advised against the change, Cllr Hanley’s motion was passed by nine votes to seven. The motion has amended the policy objective in the draft City Development Plan which originally sought to “work in collaboration” with the LDA to “enhance the delivery of the long term strategic needs for housing in the city”.
The new objective now states that the local authority will collaborate with the LDA to “enhance the delivery of the long term strategic needs for social, affordable, and cost rental housing in the city”.
'Serious challenge'
Cllr Hanley [pictured below] said the need to construct more than 4,400 houses represents "a serious challenge” for the council, but it is one that must be met.
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“The housing crisis is crushing the spirit of Galway,” he said. “Rents and house prices have long gone beyond affordability for families and individuals in the city. A state response of public housing development that matches the scale of this crisis at appropriate locations with proper infrastructure is overdue.”
Cllr Hanley said the city council and the LDA have “two significant opportunities” to deliver social, affordable, and cost rental housing as part of the developments at the Dyke Road and Sandy Road. “The Land Development Agency should be a vehicle that realises the construction of public housing on public land in tandem with community facilities."
The draft City Development Plan 2023-2029 will go on public consultation in February.
