Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The issue of affordable housing has been raised many times before in this House by me and others. The stark reality is that housing is not being delivered quickly enough for those who need it. The Minister's Government has placed a heavy emphasis on the delivery of social housing and that is only right and proper. There is another cohort of people who want to own their own home. They are the people who do not earn enough to get a mortgage from the banks to buy a house on the open market. These are the people who go to work every day, pay their taxes and make a big contribution to our society. They do not avail of any State support and feel they are being left behind and forgotten about. They are renting or staying with parents and they just cannot get on the property ladder because they cannot secure a house at an affordable rate. They are more than willing to pay for their home, but need the vital support that affordable housing schemes are supposed to provide.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage says that a total of 1,757 affordable homes were delivered in 2022, but of that total, almost 700 were cost rentals to families who will never own those houses. Thus, the real figure for people buying their own affordable home last year was less than 1,100. In my home county of Galway, just 21 families were able to buy their first home, all under the first home scheme. Six of them were in the city and 15 were in the county. There is no affordable housing scheme available in Galway at present. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has set a target for this year of delivering 5,500 affordable homes, but the Department warned at the start of the year that meeting this target was likely to prove challenging due to rising costs and supply chain issues. Where does this leave the people I spoke about at the outset, who are caught in the middle? These are the working people who are struggling to continue to pay for rented accommodation at exorbitant rates and struggling to find affordable accommodation. These people feel they are being forgotten about and left in limbo. I know of a number of sites in my constituency of Galway West that have been identified for the building of affordable housing, but there is little or no movement on getting them started. Will the Minister give a commitment that she and her colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, will take a more proactive role in getting these sites moving and get that much-needed affordable housing built for young couples who want to buy a house and call it their own?

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