Donegal County Council urged to declare housing emergency

Donegal County Council has been called on to declare a housing emergency in the county over the lack of accommodation to rent and the shortage of social housing.

Inishowen Councillors highlighted the crisis being faced during a council meeting on schemes and options available to  assist home ownership. Councillors pointed out 

that the income level in the county, which is the lowest in the State,  means the schemes would exclude many people in Donegal.

The council has also been called on to build modular homes as a short-term fix to the housing crisis in the county.

Inishowen councillor Joy Beard of the 100% Redress Party called on the local authority to

declare “we are in an emergency situation here”. She made the call after highlighting the case of a woman who is living in a caravan with her eight year-old son who has “no hope of getting into social housing at all”.

The Buncrana councillor said she was very disheartened at what she described as a lack of urgency from the Government to deal with shortages of housing and the defective blocks crisis.

She said one woman who has been on the social housing list for six years is living in a single-glazed caravan in a back garden with he son, aged 8.

“She has no hope of getting into social housing at all. That is very disheartening for her. Her health is  deteriorating - her son’s health is deteriorating.”

Cllr Beard called for urgency over the housing shortages.  “I think the council needs to step up and say ‘we are in an emergency situation here’.

She said there are families living in homes affected by defective concrete blocks “that should not be in those homes but there is nowhere for those families to go”.

Another family she knows of is facing a jump in rent from €860 to €1,400.

“This can’t be sustained anymore. What is going to happen when those rents cannot be met by those families.”

Cllr Beard said the provision of modular homes is the only quick-fix solution and they need to be put in place with a sense of urgency.

“This is all about affordable housing and very few families in Donegal will be in the financial situation to take advantage of the Government schemes.

Sinn Féin councillor Albert Doherty also said that income levels in Donegal would prohibit participation in many of the national schemes announced.

The 240 houses listed as available for rent in Connacht-Ulster in August could be filled in the north Inishowen area  “overnight, such is the demand,” he said

The  council needs to support “significant social housing provisions” in Donegal, he added.

Cllr Doherty called on the council to support progress on “much-needed social housing in the Inishowen area”.

He said there needs to be schemes that suit rural Donegal and the housing needs there.

Labour councillor  Martin Farren highlighted the condition of some social houses in Inishowen. He said houses in one local authority estate in east Inishowen are so run down “people should not be living in them”.

“If we ever had a very, very bad winter… something could happen. They are in very poor condition.

“Something needs to be done and needs to be addressed. I am seriously concerned as a  public representative about those houses.”