Council is urged to put more focus on modular homes
A visit to modular home developers in counties Mayo and Galway is to be arranged for members of Mayo County Council’s Housing Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) after members called for a much speedier delivery of housing at their February meeting.
Raising the topic, Cllr Harry Barrett said that “modular is the way to go now” and said the council should run a pilot modular housing scheme instead of working with housing bodies and developers to build affordable homes.
“Bought-in solutions will leave a large cohort of young families not able to afford them and modular housing seems to be the way to go now. I want this SPC to look at Mayo County Council itself getting involved in developing affordable housing schemes through a pilot scheme.
"Timber-frame homes are serious homes, they are A-rated, take six weeks to build and come in pre-cast. There are some excellent companies producing fantastic projects and a delegation from this committee should visit and see what they can offer as we are not building to pace and will have a load of notices to quit coming in. We are facing a serious dilemma here and need to look at working at speed, taking control and providing modular housing for first-time buyers.”
Cllr Peter Flynn supported the call, saying: “It is really important we go and meet some of these people to see what we can do to open doors for them. People cannot afford the asking price of €300,000 per house in some of our social housing schemes and I think we could source modular homes for at least 50% of that cost. The time factor is also key in that they be delivered within a six-month period. I don’t want to get people’s hopes up though because it is a difficult one.”
The council's Director of Housing Tom Gilligan said a visit to modular home providers in Galway and Mayo could certainly be arranged, adding: “Just to state, the government has given a commitment that a minimum of 20% of houses would be done through modern methods of construction.”
- Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
