Social housing - NAMA plan might help ease crisis

Despite the Government spending over €4.7 billion on social housing during the past five years, the number of families and individuals on the housing lists have increased dramatically.

The lists jumped by more than 28% since 2008, but government funding to local authorities is only a fraction of what it was at the height of the boom.

There was a splurge of spending on new and second-hand houses in 2006 and 2007 when property prices were at their highest and the demand for such houses was at it lowest. Some €930m was spent on local authority housing in 2007, but the expenditure was cut to €670m last year, and is at €390m this year.