Under the new Housing for All plan all local authorities across the republic have been issued with updated social housing construction targets. The new targets for 2022-2026 will see 9 500 new social housing homes every year nationally. South Dublin County Council’s target for the period will be 3 287 homes. The figure includes new builds by Approved Housing Bodies as well as direct builds by the council. People Before Profit Councillor for Palmerstown-Fonthill Madeleine Johansson has raised concerns with how these targets will be met.
Cllr Madeleine Johansson commented: “I’m very concerned about how South Dublin County Council can achieve the targets set out under the plan. Considering that the new build total in 2020 was only 370 homes of which 105 were Part V units provided by private developers. This means that there’s a long way to go to meet the annual target of about 650 homes.
“Up to now, the council has mainly built very small numbers of homes on infill sites in existing estates. Large sites, such as Kilcarbery and Killinarden, have been sold off to private developers for a small percentage of social housing. We need a complete change in how public land is used in order to meet these targets. We need to use the vast tracts of council owned lands in the Clonburris SDZ for social and affordable housing only in order to tackle the housing crisis.
“Even if the targets set down by the government are met, it will not be enough to meet demand. There are currently about 10 000 households, if you include the HAP transfer list, on the social housing waiting list. To really provide housing for all we need a complete change in housing policy, both nationally and locally.”
