Councillors want to fast-track construction of Cork town in lieu of housing crisis
The decision was made after a motion calling on the local authority to take over construction of the houses at Monard, near Blarney, rather than waiting for private developers to move in.
Council chief executive Tim Lucey said the local authority did not have the resources to do this alone.
He revealed that, in order to accelerate the delivery of new homes, the council had appointed a housing infrastructure implementation team which was looking at developing several special sites, including Monard.
He said that the council “is engaged in advanced discussions with the Irish Strategic Infrastructure Fund and other agencies to establish a long-term funding arrangement” which will enable it to develop the likes of roads, water and sewerage connections which would be necessary before housing construction could start on such sites.
The money borrowed from the fund would be repaid through a special development levy on private builders who moved into the Monard site.
Sinn Féin councillor Des O’Grady had argued the council has already invested heavily in the planning and designing of Monard and houses should be built as quickly as possible by the council instead of relying on private developers.
“The vast majority of this development will be residential providing an ideal opportunity for the council to create a new vibrant community of 13,000 people living in 5,000 mixed-tenure homes based on modern planning and first class infrastructure,” said Mr O’Grady.
He said a huge volume of young people could neither afford soaring rents nor a mortgage in the Metropolitan Cork region, where an average house now costs €230,000, and the council needed to build its own houses now to accommodate them.
Independent councillor Marcia D’Alton agreed, saying that the council was too private developer-led and had to “do something different to support the needs of its communities”.
“People on good incomes can’t afford mortgages and rents and this is the only realistic way of tackling this,” said Sinn Féin councillor Eoghan Jeffers.
Fianna Fáil councillor Bob Ryan added words of caution pointing out that, at present, Monard was “a long-term solution” and a number of other landbanks could be utilised for such projects far quicker.
After some lengthy debate, Mr O’Grady agreed to amend his motion somewhat.
“I recognise need outside help, we won’t solve the housing crisis in Cork without huge public investment,” said Mr O’Grady.
He gained unanimous support when he said that the council should get together with Cork City Council, different Government departments, and voluntary housing agencies to come up with a united strategy to get Monard off the ground as quickly as possible.
“We have to set up a taskforce between the two local authorities to speed up the building of houses,” said Mr O’Grady.
Mr Lucey said the council didn’t have the capacity on its own, but he “recognised clearly the intent of the motion as there is a need for significant growth in housing in the region”.
