Some applications for affordable housing not 'realistic'

The chief executive of Mayo County Council has said some of the applications for affordable housing are not "realistic".

Kevin Kelly told last week's meeting of the council that 63% of those expressing an interest in affordable housing had no children or one child yet 77% wanted a three-bedroom house and most said their maximum budget was €277,000.

 “We have to be realistic, Something’s got to give.”

However, Fine Gael Cllr Peter Flynn accused the council of having an "abysmal" record on affordable housing over the past decade with nothing delivered since 2014. 

The meeting had earlier heard from council official Olivia Gallagher who confirmed that a proposal for five affordable houses as part of the current Golf Course Road social housing development in Westport is due to receive the green light shortly. Ms Gallagher said an application for funding is currently with the Department of Housing. 

"They are very close to making a decision and we expect... it will be positive."

Subject to approval from the Department, the council hopes to advertise the units at the end of this month and open the portal for applications in early November. Ms Gallagher also clarified that anyone can apply for an affordable housing unit and they do not need to be from the immediate area. However, criteria to be applied would include local eligibility and personal financial situations. She also revealed that an affordable housing application at Rathbawn in Castlebar lodged over a year ago had not proved successful, but that another one in the vicinity was being looked into.

A series of councillors complained that, in general, affordable housing is not being provided for people in Mayo and that given the current housing crisis, there is an onus on the council to provide more housing services.

Ms Gallagher explained that the affordable housing scheme is targetted at first-time and other eligible purchasers who cannot afford a house at market value. The current 2021 scheme requires updating to cover such instances as to how to proceed if there are more applicants than units, and that the scheme is a reserved function and subject to ministerial review, with any scheme proposals to go to the Housing Agency for approval.

She added that according to the scheme, properties will be advertised a minimum of two weeks in advance and then an order of priority must be made for eligible applicants in case demand exceeds supply.

Independent Cllr Michael Kilcoyne asked that the council ensure that any advertisement on affordable homes be sent to members at the same time.

Cllr Peter Flynn said there was an urgent need for action. 

"What’s important now is that we get a scheme up and running because there is huge demand out there for people who want to own their own houses but who can’t get on the market and so many are leaving not just the county but the country because of this.” 

Fianna Fáil Cllr Brendan Mulroy said affordable houses should be prioritised for local people, adding that there are currently young people living with their parents and grandparents.  

Aontú Cllr Paul Lawless said the Government has delivered "zero on affordable homes" and it was very disappointing, adding: “I agree it is the parents across the county that are preventing a social catastrophe with a number of adult children living in the box bedroom etc.” 

As to seven affordable housing units planned for Castlebar, he wanted to know why the east of the county was completely left out "with areas like Swinford, Claremorris and Ballyhaunis not even being considered for affordable housing’" He also asked that affordable housing schemes throughout Mayo be limited to applicants from Mayo.

Sinn Féin Cllr Gerry Murray said the council was moving at a snail’s pace on affordable housing, given that there had been 670 public expressions of interest lodged two years, which he said would probably amount to more than 1,000 now. Considering that in 2007-'08, the council could ensure all towns had access to the schemes, he said the council needed to be able to sign off on schemes through devolved power to the local authority, adding: “We’ve seen the chaos and monster that is now Irish Water, which is one of the biggest preventers of houses being built, because we devolved our power for water and sewerage. We are not going to solve the housing crisis where [officials in] Dublin are approving every individual scheme... People in Swinford are paying rents of €1,300 to €1,400 for very modest houses - that is not sustainable.” 

Fianna Fáil Cllr Michael Loftus said the biggest issue was getting contractors for the schemes while Fine Gael Cllr Mark Duffy said councillors had been fighting for a scheme for Ballina and were being told the problem was eligibility, based on income limits, which he said should not be the dictating factor. 

“We have so many families who have left who would snap up one of those schemes. There needs to be a stop to putting barriers in place and roll schemes out in all towns, including Ballina”, he said.

Independent Cllr Richard Finn said the council must ensure the more unfortunate and homeless are looked after, adding: “A report last week showed 48% of the cost of building a house goes on taxation so let’s start at the top and get the Government to deal with this.” 

Council chief executive Kevin Kelly said the choice was to adopt the scheme as it is or seek amendments "which will delay us getting houses". He added that the council approach is to build incrementally and they had started in Westport because it had the highest affordability gap, but it is not planned that any areas would be excluded, provided houses could be built at a cost that would make them affordable.

He said it is not a simple matter to flip social housing to affordable housing as they are based on two different funding streams in the Department. He told councillors: “We are open for proposals. If there are developers out there that can present affordable housing schemes we will work with them.”