14/07/2015

More Than 40,000 Waiting On Housing In Dublin Area

New figures that reveal more than 40,000 people in Dublin in need of housing show that the housing crisis is "only getting worse", according to Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson, Dessie Ellis.

Commenting on the report, that shows 42,000 people are on the Dublin City Council housing waiting list, including 16,500 children, Mr Ellis said that the government had failed to tackle the problem.

"Over the past four years only a small number of homes have been built by the council due to severe cuts to funding under this government. The council will only build an additional 167 homes before 2018 despite the unprecedented need in the city. They are simply not being funded to provide housing by the Fine Gael/Labour coalition," Deputy Ellis said.

"Rents have gone up in the city by over 34% since this government took office and the number of places available for rent is at an all-time low. Thousands of Dubliners are priced out of the private rental market and those that aren't are struggling with very high rents.

"We also have thousands of people in emergency accommodation along with over 1,000 children. The government aren't even adequately funding homeless services with the council looking at a shortfall of €18.5 million for 2015.

"The government have failed to build homes that are desperately needed, their strategy at present only includes 167 homes to be built by 2018. They have also failed to act on promises for rent certainty which now is unlikely to happen before the general election.

"We need to invest in building homes to tackle this need, the private market cannot and will not meet this demand for affordable homes. We also need to tackle rents with a system of regulations which will ensure a fair price and limit increases in the future. Berlin has recently had success with such a model.

"Sinn Féin in government would build thousands of homes each year to meet demand, stabilise rents and create jobs. Anything less will only see the crisis worsen further."

(MH/JP)

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