Mayo council 'ploughing ahead' with affordable housing despite no target set

A SENIOR housing official in Mayo County Council says the council are 'ploughing on' with providing affordable housing in the county despite the department providing zero targets for Mayo.

The issue of affordable housing was addressed at the Housing Strategic Policy Committee meeting where members were informed that due to the slow process in delivering affordable housing on council owned land, Mayo County Council are looking at a developer-led approach to delivering affordable housing.

Only five affordable houses have been delivered in Mayo since 2012 and these are part of the 50-unit social housing development in Westport which was recently completed. It is expected the owners of the five homes will be able to move in within the next six to eight weeks.

The members were also informed that the Department of Housing has set zero targets for Mayo County Council to complete but Director of Services, Tom Gilligan acknowledged there is a demand and they are looking to develop affordable homes.

“We are ploughing ahead with affordable housing and that is the reality. We are not sitting down waiting for a target. We realise there is a need for affordable housing and we are moving ahead with that,” he said.

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The lack of target was questioned by a number of the members with the SPC Cathaoirleach, Cllr Peter Flynn proposing that they write to both Minister Alan Dillon and Minister Dara Calleary to ask what is being done to change that target.

“We should write to Ministers Calleary and Dillon and ask for an explanation why there is zero target in Mayo and what are their plans to address the real need within our county. It is hard to fathom how there is such a need in our county and yet the department is saying we have a zero target. It beggars belief to be honest with you,” he said.

Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne also questioned why other rural counties such as Kerry and Wicklow had affordable housing targets and Mayo did not. He added that people who did not meet the income criteria for social housing and cannot get loans to buy their own are being condemned to poverty.

In response to the members, Olivia Gallagher, Head of Housing in Mayo County Council said that Mayo did not get a target because it had not demonstrated that there is an affordability gap across the county. This she said is 'always a challenge when you are making an application for funding'.

“We can see there is an affordability gap in Westport and Castlebar and Ballina and they are where we are looking at first. If we go developer-led it will be a quicker process but it does not mean that in conjunction with that we are not looking at producing affordable housing on our own sites which we are and we would love to move on that.

“There has to be an element of certainty of cost when it comes to an affordable house because at the end of the day when that house goes to market it has to be affordable for the person and the target group you are trying to alleviate the pressure and stresses from.

“We are all well aware of and committed to trying to find solutions but it is very nuanced and not the simplest of processes. We are committed to doing it where we can and where it makes sense that you have a house that is going to be affordable for the person we are trying to help,” she said.