An extra 3,000 homes will have to be built if demands for housing are to be met in Galway, meaning the housing crisis is set to escalate further unless serious action is taken.
This is the view of Independent Galway West TD Noel Grealish, who is calling on both the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Finance to put measures in place in the forthcoming Budget to “kickstart construction and address the escalating housing shortage”.
The 3,000 figure comes from a recent ESRI report. The report says the homes must be built by 2021 to avoid an accommodation crisis. However Dep Grealish said the lack of suitable rented accommodation in Galway and the shortage of properties which qualify for rent supplement, means there are already serious problems in this regard.
“This has become a huge problem in the last 12 months,” he said. “Given it can take three to four years from the start of the planning process until houses are ready for occupation, means construction needs to start as soon as possible.”
As a result, Dep Grealish is demanding Finance Minister Michael Noonan and Environment Minister Alan Kelly put in place measures to “expedite the construction process and enable building contractors to secure finance to commence the construction process”.
Dep Grealish said: “It makes no sense that we have an impending housing crisis, while at the same time there are thousands of construction workers unemployed across the country.”
However he acknowledged that the State needs to “avoid a construction bubble like the one that caused the last economic crisis”.
