Why is there no affordable housing in Mayo, asks councillor

A Westport councillor has said it is very disappointing that affordable houses are not being offered as part of ongoing housing developments, noting that current market values of houses are unaffordable for so many.

Cllr Peter Flynn submitted a notice of motion to the September meeting of Mayo County Council in relation to a number of planned housing developments around the county, asking management to itemise where affordable houses are included and in what quantities. He referred to plans for hundreds of houses in Mayo which showed substantial designation for social housing but little or none for affordable housing and asked why this was the case.

Director of Services Catherine McConnell said there was "significant demand on our social housing list".

"That is why social housing is our preference and there have been very little residential developments that started in the last two years that did not have a very large social housing list.” 

Cllr Flynn said he was really disappointed to see so many planning applications go through without an affordable housing element, adding: “Effectively, we are saying to the people of Mayo that we don’t believe in the affordability issue here and we are just focusing on social housing when the biggest cohort in need are people in work, where there is no support whatsoever. 

"Social housing by contrast has other options available including HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) and RAS (Rental Accommodation Scheme). 

"I am really struggling to understand this because back to the town council days, even through the years when the country was in disarray, we still managed to allocate affordable housing.” 

Cllr Flynn asked that the affordable planning element be put as an agenda item at the next meeting of the forum to see how the council can reserve 20% of each development for affordable housing.

"Affordable housing should be the single most important priority and nobody is doing anything about it, bar one scheme in Castlebar.” 

Ms McConnell replied that it is the central housing unit in the council that engages with developers and that it may not be appropriate in a very large development of detached houses to allocate some as affordable “because that is not the type of house we can afford to take". 

"The reality is that until two years ago when we made the case for affordable housing in Westport, it was not there. We do have proposals to develop housing, but it has to be something we can deliver as affordable, with a discount off the market price. We have had very little development in the town of Westport that we have had an [affordable] option on and because our social housing list is quite large, that is why it has been our focus.” 

Cllr Brendan Mulroy asked that a report also be provided on the number of planning permissions granted for housing developments by the council but that have not commenced, stating that planning permission often cannot go forward “because banks are not lending". 

Cllr Michael Burke added: “People are actually getting the planning permission and are then trying to flip it, as they are afraid of taking it on. I am aware a lot are trying this.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.