Mayo County Council has received over 600 responses from people interested in availing of an affordable housing scheme if one becomes available in the county.
Earlier this year, elected members of the council requested that the council launch a survey to gauge interest in such schemes around the county, even though the council has not been granted funding to provide such a scheme in Mayo.
Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne, who was one of the main councillors who pushed the council to do the survey, said at the recent meeting of Mayo County Council, that it was an extremely serious issue and that the response to date showed the amount of people who would try to take up such a scheme, were it available.
He added that with over 600 people showing an interest, it would take 12 years to clear that backlog if the council were even able to allocate 50 affordable homes a year.
Independent councillor Mark Duffy told the meeting it was hard for young people in the country to see a future here with the cost of living being so high.
Director of Services for Mayo County Council, Tom Gilligan, said that there were areas in the county where there are affordability constraints and a report is being compiled to bring the matter before the department to make a case for Mayo to be included in an affordable housing scheme.
The survey is open until the end of the month at https://www.mayo.ie/Housing/AffordableHousing.
