Dozens queue for affordable housing

MORE than 30 people have spent almost a week queuing for affordable housing at a time when the Government is boasting of its housing achievements.

The queue at The Belfry, an 80-house South Dublin County Council development at Citywest, began on Good Friday and dozens of people have spent the last number of nights camping out in the hope of securing a home.

Viewing begins on Saturday and the lucky ones will know this weekend if their wait was worth it when offers are made on a “first come, first served” basis.

Cllr Catriona Jones (Lab) contrasted the reality of the housing crisis - as nearly 200 families seek 80 housing units - with Housing Minister Noel Ahern’s boasts of his government’s housing achievements.

She said the numbers of people queuing had built up since last weekend.

“As of today, more than 30 people are in the queue,” she said.

“These people face three more days queuing in the open in all weathers.”

Yesterday, Mr Ahern said he was “delighted” with the achievements of local authorities in building more than 5,000 homes last year. The Government was committed to building more houses this year, he added.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio, the minister said the housing needs of 13,000 households were met last year - the highest local authority output for 20 years.

Labour’s environment spokesperson Eamon Gilmore said the waiting list figures reflected the Government’s failure to make any inroads in addressing the housing shortage.

“The reality of the record of this Fianna Fáil/PD government after almost nine years in office is that there are more people than ever on local authority waiting lists; fewer people than ever can afford to buy their own homes; and more families than ever are caught in the poverty trap of the rent allowance system.”

Bob Jordan of housing charity Threshold said: “The minister’s affordable housing policy is a bit like Waiting for Godot because we’ve been promised lots of houses but they never come. Out of 80,000 houses produced last year, less than 3,000 of them were affordable.”

Mr Ahern said 43,000 families are now on the housing list, and added: “One of the extraordinary trends over the years is that over 40% of the people on the housing list are now single people, whereas if you were to compare like with like 10 or 15 years ago - unless you were elderly - you wouldn’t be eligible to get on the local authority list if you were single, unless you were a senior citizen. So things have changed.”