Councillor for Lucan-Palmerstown-North Clondalkin Derren Ó Brádaigh, has welcomed the recent policy adoption for ‘Rightsizing and Allocation of Age Friendly Accommodation’ by South Dublin County Council following his inaugural meeting. Cllr Ó Brádaigh said: “Rightsizing and allocation of age friendly accommodation came before members for their consideration at the December council meeting. This is a policy that seeks to address both the independent needs of our older population whilst also aiming to best utilise existing council housing stock.
“Having thoroughly read the document beforehand, I was happy to add my support in favour of adopting this policy, that not only recognises the need to provide appropriate housing options to meet the specific needs of our ageing population but also helps form an integral part of the Council’s own recently adopted County Age Friendly Strategy 2020 – 2024. “A Council occupancy study has revealed that there are approximately 700 homes with single occupancy and a further 500 homes with two people residing, all over the age of 55. Significantly South Dublin has 7,200 households on the housing list with 1,250 of these requiring three or four bedroom homes.
“The principle of providing choice to older folks that may wish to transition to alternative and more tailored living, where there is perhaps only two people or even a single person living alone in a three or four bedroom home, thus freeing up potential homes for larger families on the housing list has much merit. However, it is crucial that any planned or prospective supply of age friendly housing designed to be age appropriate must help to support independent living as well as being within easy reach of transport, healthcare, retail, and other key services and supports for older persons within existing communities.
“Whilst I very much welcome this particular strategic housing approach, as a potential part-solution for a specific housing requirement, we have yet to really grapple with the much more widely and urgent need for social and affordable housing delivery”.
