If you are on housing list in Offaly, you might have to wait ten years

It could take up to ten years to get a council house in Offaly due to the ongoing shortage, a councillor has admitted.

Cathaoirleach of Birr Municipal District Cllr Peter Ormond admitted “we can offer little hope in the current situation.” Countywide there are now 1,701 people on the housing list, up from 1,475 last year he revealed. “Something new has to come, 1,701 applicants, they are coming in every week,” he remarked. “We need to provide some hope,” he remarked.
He said that houses are in such short supply that for a family joining the housing list in the county now, “I could be saying to them seven to ten years, which is no hope for a couple who have a family.”
In the Birr area Councillor Ormond said six houses were due to be built for the elderly, another six general units also likely to be built and three or four might be purchased along the way this year. “There needs to be some sort of drive to get houses constructed,” he remarked. “The housing section are doing their very, very best. It is just a defecit,” he remarked.
“The low hanging fruit has been picked at this stage,” he said in relation to purchasing houses on the open market.
“The rents are going up quite high and people are being forced to take accomodation that they mightn't have otherwise taken,” he added.
“We have a whole generation of people who haven't built a house,” said Cllr Ormond. He said the impact was clear to see in rural areas where GAA Clubs stuggle to put out a team. He said action is need to speed up the timeframe for building. At present it is taking over two years to get housing schemes through the planning process, said Cllr Ormond. “The process is far too slow in terms of getting a house from an idea to a scheme on the ground,” he remarked. “There is no critical mass being achieved,” he said, pointing out that the same planning process is applied whether it be one or two houses or 50.
Birr area Councillor John Clendennen believes the council will have to “up the ante” in terms of bringing derelict and abandoned properties into use. He also believes new landbanks will have to be considered in order to tackle the housing shortage.
Properties both “commercial and residential are lying idle for a long time. Why are they they idle?” he asked. Cllr Clendennen believes the issue of establishing ownership remains a major stumbling block in terms of returning the properties to use.
Cllr Clendennen said returning derelict properties to use in towns and villages could be particularily beneficial for older people who may not be as mobile as the younger generation