Delays to the construction of thousands of social and affordable homes due to an interdepartmental row over funding is further proof that this government is not capable of tackling the housing crisis, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been reported today that work on up to 5,000 social and affordable homes by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) has effectively stalled because of a dispute between the Department of Housing, the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Taoiseach has repeatedly said the government is doing all it can on housing, but this row over funding shows this is not true.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is utterly scandalous that affordable and social housing projects are ready to go but are being held up by government dithering and a reluctance to commit funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is disgraceful when there is a budget surplus of billions available. It shows the government\u2019s utter incompetence when it comes to solving the housing crisis and its failure to treat it as the emergency that it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe repeatedly hear the government banging on about supply measures to boost the private sector. Yet it is not doing the one thing it can do to guarantee an increase in the supply of homes \u2013 State delivery through AHBs and local authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is yet another example of the government standing in the way of clear solutions to the housing emergency.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has also emerged that nearly 4,000 council homes were left vacant last year, despite the fact there are 60,000 people on local authority waiting lists across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd in a response to a parliamentary question I submitted, Housing Minister James Browne confirmed an increase in the number of derelict sites, which jumped from 1,573 to 1,913 last year \u2013 a rise of 340.<\/p>\n
“This shows that the government has failed to get to grips with vacancy and dereliction \u2013 something that could quickly increase the supply of homes if properly enforced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Minister must now explain why the government not only ignores, but actually impedes, the most immediate and obvious solutions to our worsening housing disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
March 10, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Delays to the construction of thousands of social and affordable homes due to an interdepartmental row over funding is further proof that this government is not capable of tackling the housing crisis, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said: \u201cIt has been reported today that work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n