Housing crisis set to continue in Cork as government on track to miss social and affordable housing targets – Pat Buckley TD

Housing crisis set to continue in Cork as government on track to miss social and affordable housing targets – Pat Buckley TD

Sinn Féin TD, Pat Buckley for Cork East has warned that the housing crisis in county Cork is set to continue or get even worse, as the government is on track to miss their social and affordable housing targets this year. The comments were made after the Minister for Housing published his Quarter 3 social and affordable housing report.

Buckley said:

“The housing crisis is causing misery in county Cork with people priced out of owning their own home due to eyewatering prices. Sinn Féin have been very clear that ending this crisis must be a key priority of the government.

“Yesterday, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien published his Quarter 3 social and affordable housing report. It is clear that once again government going to miss their social and affordable housing delivery targets this year.

“The Minister’s plan promises 9100 new build social homes this year. At the end of September just 2642 had been delivered. Given that just 29% of this crucial target has been delivered by the end of the quarter it is hard to see him meeting the 9100 target by year’s end.

“These are the much needed homes for families and single people trapped in emergency homeless accommodation and languishing on lengthy Council waiting lists here in Cork East. Not only are the government’s targets too low but once again they are not being met. The government is simply not delivering the scale of ambition that is needed to deliver meaningful change.

“The consequence is rising rents, rising house prices and rising homelessness in Cork East. The longer Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are in power the worse this housing crisis will get in Cork and across the state. Only a Sinn Féin led Government will build the genuinely affordable homes that tens of thousands of people desperately need and rightly deserve.

“Housing will be the number one priority of a Sinn Féin government. People need a break from the housing crisis and they need it urgently.”