Mayo's first affordable housing project gets approval

The first affordable housing development in Mayo has been approved in principle.

Five homes contained within a 50-home development in Westport are to be designated as affordable housing.

It is not yet known what the asking price for the properties, located in a development on Golf Course Road, will be.

Mayo was previously left off a list of counties approved for affordable housing schemes with the local authority having to battle to be added to the Housing for All initiative.

The news was delivered by Cllr Christy Hyland at a meeting of Mayo County Council’s Housing Strategic Policy Committee (SPC).

The council has yet to hear back from the Department on whether a similar application in Castlebar will get the green light.

The chair of the SPC, Independent Cllr Patsy O’Brien, defended the local authority's housing delivery following a wave of criticism at a recent meeting of the council.

“The delivery of houses to date is on target,” he stated.

The council was tasked with delivering 720 social houses from 2022 to 2026. There were 90 homes delivered in 2022; 89 in 2023; an anticipated 154 in 2024; 166 in 2025; and 169 in 2026.

Cllr O’Brien called for greater input from the voluntary housing sector but Castlebar-based Independent Cllr Michael Kilcoyne argued that they should be left out of the equation.

“There are houses here in town (Castlebar) that the voluntary sector built that still haven’t been opened and had to be taken over by the county council," said Cllr Kilcoyne.

He said tenants can’t buy out their houses from the voluntary sector. 

“They will forever be renting.” 

The council is in the process of delivering 171 units across 18 projects, the meeting heard.

A further 12 projects have Stage One approval, with two projects at Stage Two, and one at Stage Three.

"We are well on our way to meeting our targets in the lifetime of this programme," said Olivia Gallagher, of the council's housing department.

Meanwhile, the meeting heard that there have been 465 applicants to the Croí Connaithe Scheme in Mayo. A total of 18 homeowners have received payments to date under the scheme.