Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In recent months, the grim facts of a dramatic increase in families, including children, being driven into homelessness, speak for themselves. I will give an example concerning targets in my own area. In a letter sent to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the Minister mentions a target of 681 new houses. When one breaks it down, however, there are only 300 new houses, or less. The rest are leases, RAS or HAPs, which are not new council houses. Much of it is not new money either.

The housing waiting list in Dún Laoghaire is growing by 100 per month. The Minister is going to give us 300 new houses over three years, when 1,200 people are joining the list in a year. That means the list will be a million miles longer in a few years if this is all the new social housing construction the Minister can provide. It is not even a drop in the ocean. We will not even be standing still and the crisis will get worse.

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