Dessie Ellis TD said today:

“The government is allowing the housing crisis to rage on with wholly inadequate numbers of homes being added to the social housing stock.”

This week, through parliamentary questions 33780/13 and 33777/13, Deputy Ellis uncovered that in Dublin city just 55 units have been delivered through NAMA and only 19 local authority homes will be built by 2014.
“In 2011 NAMA was announced that it would make nearly 2,000 units available for social housing across the state. This has expanded to 4,200 homes but still we are waiting any substantial delivery.

“We have 100,000 people on local authority waiting lists, 100,000 on Rent Supplement costing the state nearly half a billion a year and yet the government seem to think nothing is required to deal with this. Severe and widespread housing need is obviously not their concern.

“We are facing increased evictions due to government policy and major crisis in the buy-to-let market, meaning many renting families including those on Rent Supplement and RAS are at threat of losing their home and the government has offered little or nothing to deal with it.

“The minister must refocus on the delivery of NAMA properties for housing to fast track delivery we have waited far too long since the promise of a social dividend in 2009.

“Real investment from the Pension Reserve Fund, European Investment Bank and housing bonds must be put in to a large construction campaign.

“Where NAMA housing is available and demand is not apparent to local authorities, a choice-based letting system should be implemented.

“Housing need is a massive and serious problem and radical, long term solutions are needed, not policy statements and platitudes which is all we have got so far from this department.”