Government hails housing help for 13,000 families
Around 13,000 families were helped with their housing needs last year, Government figures revealed today.
Claiming the highest output for 20 years, Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal Noel Ahern said 6,500 social rented and 2,880 affordable homes were completed in 2005 – a 7% increase on the previous year.
Mr Ahern said since 1997 the Government had provided record resources for social and affordable housing.
“The affordable housing options available to lower income households and those who find themselves priced out of the housing market have expanded in recent years,” he said.
“About 2,800 households benefited from these programmes in 2005, which is almost double the output in 2000. A further expansion is forecast over the period 2006 and 2008 – when it is estimated that some 15,000 units will be delivered.”
Mr Ahern said the Government would continue to build on the strong figures with €2bn being spent this year on housing programmes. He said local authorities had achieved over 5,100 completions in 2005, and started an additional 6,300 units. And at the end of the year 8,500 houses were under construction, Mr Ahern said.
“The figure for this year is further proof of our commitment to the people on housing waiting lists,” the minister said.
But the Labour Party criticised the Government claiming it had failed to meet its targets and had left 44,000 families on local authority housing lists.
Eamon Gilmore, the party’s environment spokesman, said the figures would also be of little consolation to the tens of thousands of families who find they simply cannot afford to buy a house.
He said: “The reality of the record of this Fianna Fail/PD government after almost nine years in office is that there are more people than ever on local authority waiting lists; fewer people than ever can afford to buy their own homes; and more families than ever are caught in the poverty trap of the rent allowance system.”
Mr Gilmore claimed the target under the National Development Plan was for 35,000 new local authority houses between 2000 and 2006. They have built just 22,500, less than two thirds of their own target, he said.
