Charity concerned at 500% increase in housing waiting lists
Charity Respond! has today expressed concern regarding a 500% increase in housing waiting lists in the past 20 years.
Figures released by the Department of the Environment today show that around 100,000 households are on Local Authority waiting lists around the country.
The charity is blaming what it calls the ''ad hoc'' housing policies adopted by previous governments over the past number of decades.
According to the housing charity, the number of households on waiting lists increased at an alarming rate since 1991, despite a booming economy and property market during the Celtic Tiger years.
"In 1991 just over 20,000 households were on Local Authority housing waiting lists and this figure now stands at almost 100,000 households," said Respond! spokesperson Aoife Walsh.
"Despite many years of prosperity in the nineties and noughties, the lack of a consistent housing policy led to an over-inflated property and an under developed social housing sector.
"Successive Governments adopted ad hoc policies with no clear strategy or vision for the provision of social and affordable housing in Ireland.
"The supply of social housing never reached expected levels due to the amendment of Part V of the Planning & Development Act in 2002. When construction peaked at 93,000 units in 2006, just over 6,300 were provided for social housing purposes, far short of the 19,000 units that should have been delivered through Part V alone.
Walsh went to add that "while acknowledging the obvious commitment of Minister Penrose to this crisis, Respond! is now calling on the Government to draft a coherent housing policy with stakeholder involvement from all the relevant parties.
"It is vital that with a rapidly growing need for social housing, we need to look closely at how we are going to meet it in the future."
