Labour’s City Councillor Niall Mc Nelis in Galway is calling on Government to publish the Housing Commission Report, saying that we need to see much more urgent action on housing.
“The housing disaster is constantly coming up when I’m knocking on doors in Knocknacarra, Salthill and Rahoon,” he said.
“Renters living in overcrowded accommodation, adults forced to live in their childhood bedrooms and children doing homework on hotel floors. We need more urgency from Government.
“The Taoiseach confirmed to Labour Leader Ivana Bacik TD in December that the housing targets would be increased for 2024, but the reality is that the proposed increase of 5,000 for this year (bringing the revised targets for 2024 to 38,450 ) is far too low and will not come anywhere near to delivering the numbers of homes needed.
Cllr McNelis said that it has been widely reported that the Housing Commission report will recommend increasing annual targets to over 50,000 new builds per year, a figure that Labour has been calling for some time.
“As we know, this Government has utterly failed on delivery of homes. In 2022, only 6,500 social homes were delivered, well below the Government target of 9,000. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael remain far too reliant on private developers to pick up the pieces where this Government is failing to build, failing to invest and failing to treat housing like the crisis it is.
“There has been a particular failure to deliver affordable homes to make home ownership a possibility for low and middle income earners. Without affordable homes to buy, too many people are trapped in the rental market, unable to save for a mortgage and taking up rental property that might have gone to someone else,” he added.
“The Minister and this Government need to step in and step up. They must publish the Housing Commission report urgently and set a credible target for delivery of much-needed homes. What’s missing from government now is the political will to build homes, prioritising social and affordable housing,” concluded Cllr McNelis.
