Cork council urged to step up affordable housing provision

Just four schemes have been identified county-wide to date, with councillors claiming issues with affordable housing in many areas in Cork

Cork County Council is seeking expressions of interest from developers for turnkey houses, which can be used for those who qualify for affordable housing.

Cork County Council officials have been urged to broaden their plans for affordable housing projects, as just four areas to date have been identified for the schemes, leaving many towns in North, East and West Cork without such developments.

The local authority plans to build 29 affordable houses in Clonakilty, 120 in Kinsale, 107 in Mallow and 69 in Carrigaline.

A further 165 homes at two sites in Midleton had to be resubmitted for approval by the Department of Housing because there were issues with an Irish Water project not yet being completed in the area.

A lengthy debate was held in County Hall after Fine Gael councillor Susan McCarthy asked for a progress report on the sites picked and the number of houses envisaged under the scheme.

She was critical of the fact the
Midleton sites had to be resubmitted, maintaining planning should have been advanced to ensure building could go-ahead as soon as Irish Water completes its systems upgrade project in the area.

It is hoped approval will be given by the department to start construction of at the four other locations early next year.

Turnkey houses

The council is seeking expressions of interest from developers for turnkey houses, which can be used for those who qualify for affordable housing.

They are a growing band of people who earn too much to qualify for social housing, but too little to get a mortgage.

Ms McCarthy said there were “a large cohort” of her constituents in this bracket.

The council is to launch a new online initiative later this month to correlate the amount of people who are in need of affordable housing.

However, Fine Gael councillor John Paul O’Shea got backing from a number of colleagues when he maintained plans had to be drawn up for such projects in all the county’s 23 large towns.

Councillors identified issues with affordable housing in Cobh, Carrigtwohill, Millstreet, Macroom, Fermoy, Mitchelstown and Doneraile, as well as vast swathes of West Cork.

Fine Gael councillor Gerard Murphy said affordable housing projects had to start somewhere first and acknowledged there were some areas where demand would be higher.

But he stressed there were people in every town and village in the county who would qualify for affordable housing.

Mr Murphy said projects had to be planned for small towns and villages, otherwise their populations would fall to unsustainable levels.

He proposed the council contact voluntary housing organisations to seek their assistance with this.

Council chief executive Tim Lucey said the local authority had identified a total need so far for an additional 682 affordable housing units to be constructed by 2026. He said the Government had tasked them with a target of building just 189 over that period, so he expected the council would be well ahead of that.

Ms McCarthy said she was very surprised at the Government target, describing it as “very miniscule.”