OUR SOCIAL housing needs are greater than they were 45 years ago, despite 20 years of unprecedented growth, the social housing charity Respond said yesterday.
Its chief executive, Fr Pat Cogan, pointed to figures which show that the numbers on housing waiting lists nationally went from just over 20,000 in 1991 to almost 60,000 last year. “We are effectively at the same number of households on local authority housing lists as we were in the 1960s,” he said.
He was speaking at Respond’s national conference in Naas, Co Kildare. His colleague John Hannigan predicted that numbers on waiting lists would increase dramatically in the coming months and said the recent cut of almost €300 million in social housing funding would have a detrimental effect on vulnerable people.
“Now is the time to increase funding for social housing,” Mr Hannigan said. “Prices are lower, tenders are more competitive and there is a huge need for employment in the construction sector.”
He said Respond could double its output of housing for lower income families if funding was increased. The housing charity, which receives capital funding from the State, has built more than 4,500 homes since it was established in 1982.
Minister for Housing Michael Finneran told the conference that he simply did not have the resources to buy or build the numbers of units of social housing required to meet demand.
He said long-term leasing arrangements would deliver at least 2,000 new homes this year and offered the only opportunity for a significant increase in social housing supply over the next few years.
Financial consultant Eddie Hobbs said that while Ireland was in very serious trouble, he believed the worst was over. “We are one and a half times leveraged to any upturn in the global economy. Therefore there is a strong opportunity for us to get out of this,” he said.
He predicted that it would be 2014 before property prices came back to the level they were before the recession. “I think that Irish property prices are probably between 10 and 15 per cent away from hitting the absolute bottom on average.”
