Social housing targets: Proposals lack real ambition

It’s 25 years since the National Children’s Hospital was first proposed but it has not been delivered. Despite millions being spent not one child has been treated in it and it would take a very brave person to predict when one might be.

Social housing targets: Proposals lack real ambition

It’s 25 years since the National Children’s Hospital was first proposed but it has not been delivered. Despite millions being spent not one child has been treated in it and it would take a very brave person to predict when one might be.

This delivery and management of a public project defies description. No matter how it is described it is unsatisfactory and an indication of a culture of institutionalised stasis. Is it possible that very malaise has infected Government plans to resolve the housing crisis?

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy outlined his expectations around the delivery of social housing to local authorities. His targets fall well short of today’s social housing waiting lists, so are hardly informed with the kind of ambition needed to confront this social plague.

Though 25,941 social housing “solutions” will be provided this year only 4,969 homes will be built by local authorities, including 249 in Cork City, 115 in Carlow, 165 in Waterford, and 153 in Limerick.

No matter how this project is dressed up, no matter how it is polished by the minister’s handlers it is so underwhelming it seems more part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

This is a rich country and we should not have any housing crisis — even if other rich countries have one too. This is a defining issue and the minister, and the Government, need to get the finger out and come up with proposals equal to the crisis. Simply not good enough.

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