The overwhelming demand for 30 affordable homes in a south Dublin housing scheme highlights the desperation felt by house-hunters, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pent-up demand for housing saw 640 applications received for just 30 affordable homes at Woodbrook in Shankill, a scheme of 685 units built on D\u00fan Laoghaire Rathdown County Council-owned land, in conjunction with developer Castlethorn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact there were 21 applicants for every home on sale under the Affordable Housing Fund \u2013 with discounts of up to 40 per cent of market prices on offer \u2013 shows the high level of housing need. Naturally, hundreds of people will have been left disappointed after losing out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the consequence of the government\u2019s disastrous housing policy, which is failing on every level.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the government attempting to spin misleading affordable and social housing figures for 2024 \u2013 just like they did with their false claim that 40,000 homes would be built last year \u2013 the reality is that delivery in this area is pathetic and will go no way towards meeting demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that anyone who applies for affordable housing should be added to a national affordable housing waiting list, to prevent them from having to apply every time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time to fast-track affordable housing delivery by allocating additional funding to Approved Housing Bodies and local authorities, as well as investing in critical infrastructure such as water supply. Only yesterday, conflicting accounts emerged over whether \u20ac1 billion provided to Uisce \u00c9ireann amounted to additional funding for the water utility company \u2013 something that had been claimed by two senior ministers in the last government.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, the government must seriously engage with Soc Dem proposals for a Homes for Ireland State savings scheme, which could leverage some of the \u20ac160 billion held in savings accounts for investment in affordable homes. This government often accuses the opposition of not providing solutions to the housing crisis, yet here is a practical funding measure that is staring them in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n
May 7, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The overwhelming demand for 30 affordable homes in a south Dublin housing scheme highlights the desperation felt by house-hunters, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said: \u201cThe pent-up demand for housing saw 640 applications received for just 30 affordable homes at Woodbrook in Shankill, a scheme […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n