Council to build 1,100 affordable houses in E156m plan

John Murphy

The plan, which will exclusively embrace people who can not afford to purchase a home within the private housing market, will be implemented in tandem with Dungarvan Town Council.

It provides for the construction of 645 new local authority houses over the next four years in addition to a further 325 affordable homes during the same period.

These homes will be sold at cost building price to first-time buyers whose incomes are below a certain threshold set down by the Department of the Environment. Voluntary housing agencies will build another 125 houses countywide as part of the action plan, bringing the total of new homes to be completed within the four-year time-scale to 1,095, costing an estimated E156.4m.

“This is the most elaborate housing action plan the local authority will have ever undertaken,” the county council’s director of housing Peter Carey said.

“Already we have >significant agreements and commitments in place for the coming year in terms of affordable and social housing and there will be no let up in our determination to bring this elaborate overall scheme to completion inside the four-year term of the action plan,” Mr Carey said.

In addition to the construction programme, both the county council and Dungarvan Town Council will also be spending 4m on maintaining the existing housing stock of both local authorities.

Mr Carey also assured people that social and affordable houses being built within private housing schemes will not be in any way lesser “yellow pack” homes.

“We will be carrying out a series of inspections to ensure that all of the planning regulations in this regard are adhered to in full, and I am confident that there will not be any problems in this regard,” he said.