Bennettsbridge Fine Gael Councillor Pat O’Neill has revealed that Kilkenny County Council has 40 vacant affordable houses while there are 1,300 people on the local authority housing scheme waiting list.
Cllr O’Neill tabled two motions at Monday’s County Council meeting seeking a 15 per cent reduction in the price of the affordable houses.
Councillor O’Neill also called on the council to buy a land bank which would have the double effect of providing houses and employment.
“The council has over €7 million tied up in these 40 houses which are valued at between €160,000 and €202,000,” he said.
“The only way the council can sell these houses is through a reduction in price. If they are sold, the proceeds would give the council money to purchase the necessary land bank. If they are not sold, they should be allocated to the social housing programme.”
Councillor O’Neill explained that as the council will only have 111 Part V houses over the next two years, there will be no housing available for people seeking local authority houses. With no part V houses coming on board Kilkenny County Council will have to go into the open market to purchase houses which will help to inflate the market for other house buyers.
“The loan scheme brought in by the Government in the Budget does not apply to affordable houses,” he added.
