House buyers raffle for 40 houses

ALMOST 600 young people desperate to secure their own homes have had to enter a raffle to be in with a chance of getting a place to live.

The huge pressure on the State-backed Affordable Housing Scheme was highlighted in one local authority where only 40 houses were available for almost 600 applicants.

All these people were equally eligible for the scheme so Cork City Council had no option but to pull the names from a hat and offer the below-market price houses for sale to the first 40, Fine Gael Environment and Local Government spokesman Bernard Allen said.

The 79% escalation in the price of houses over the past five years has squeezed thousands of middle and low-income workers out of the property market.

Their only chance of getting a home now is either the Affordable Housing Scheme or to go on the local authority public housing lists, according to Deputy Allen.

“Both these schemes have failed to meet the demand because the Government did not give enough resources to the Affordable Housing Scheme and to local authorities, where nationwide almost 100,000 families are now on waiting lists,” Deputy Allen added.

The Fine Gael Environment spokesman believes the only immediate solution to the escalating housing crisis is for the Government to do an audit of all public land banks around the country and use them for a major house-building programme.

“The State owns vast areas of land all over the country that could be used for both public and private housing. With the scarcity of building land this is one way of tackling the housing crisis immediately,” the Fine Gael environment spokesman said.

Fine Gael believes that the huge pressure on the Affordable Housing Scheme in Cork City is reflected all over the country and it is currently carrying out a nationwide survey to find out the exact extent of the problem.

But an Environment Department spokesman said the Government is not interested in the quick-fix solutions to the housing crisis proposed by the opposition.

In the past two years the Government has provided local authorities with €320 million to purchase building land and is a better position than ever before to tackle the housing challenge, the spokesman added.

“The Government, in partnership with local authorities, is ensuring the scarcity of houses is being addressed.

“However, it is not just a question of land, but other factors like building and planning are also involved,” the Environment Department spokesman said.

Rejecting the claims that the Affordable Housing Scheme could not meet the demand for below-market price houses, the department spokesman said that 13,000 people availed of the scheme last year. This represents a 60% hike on the numbers in 2000.