Sarah Beasley: Clare & Limerick have Unacceptably Low Numbers of Local Authority Houses
On foot of figures obtained by Aontú, Aontú Housing Spokesperson & Rep for Limerick, Sarah Beasley, has stated Clare and Limerick do not have enough local authority houses – with thousands are on waiting lists:
“This is shocking. There are nearly 6,000 people on Local Authority waiting lists in Limerick and over 1,300 households in need of housing in Clare at the moment and yet Limerick & Clare has the inadequate numbers of social housing. Aontú has extrapolated figures from the National Oversight and Audit Commission. Its extraordinary but counties such as Longford, Louth and Waterford have far better rates of Local Authority homes per capita than Limerick and Clare.”
“That at a time of massive housing need and spiralling rental costs which is forcing people into homelessness and out of the county the FF/FG/Green government is presiding over disastrously low investment in Local Authority Houses in Limerick and Clare. This is especially frustrating given the at least 3,000 empty houses are sitting vacant across the country. In Limerick alone, there are over 200 vacant houses – whilst nearly 6,000 are on a waiting list for a home. Aontú is calling for an immediate tax on vacant homes and sites in the country. We are calling on Limerick and Clare County Councils Councils to issue CPOs on empty and derelict homes. Aontú is calling on the government to provide a grant to help people get these vacant homes into use. We seek a rent cap now and for the government to increase the funding of social housing in the country to bring it up to at least the state average.”
