Clare’s social housing waiting lists look set to grow even longer as a result of COVID-19.
New government statistics have outlined how the pandemic has resulted in a major fall-off in the number of new homes delivered here in the first half of this year.
29 have been built so far, in comparison to over 150 in all of 2019.
154 new homes were delivered for Clare’s social housing stock last year – 90 of these were new builds, 38 were existing houses acquired by the council and 26 will be leased.
232 were delivered in 2018 and 254 in 2017, marking a year on year decline on the delivery of housing stock in this county.
So far this year, just 10 new builds have been completed – and none in the first three months of the year, when construction workers had to down tools due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
8 houses have been added to Clare’s housing stock after the local authority acquired them, with 11 being leased.
It’s in line with national figures, with just 35% of targeted housing stock delivered so far in 2020.
There are 42 projects planned in Clare throughout the duration of the government’s Rebuilding Ireland plan, which will run until 2021 – so far, 20 of these have been completed, in areas such as Ennis, Corofin, Feakle and Clonlara – with a further seven already having builders on site.
In a statement to Clare FM, the local authority say they’re working ‘diligently’ to ensure projects are delivered, and that they’re currently on track to deliver approximately 150 units through build, acquisition and leasing for 2020.
Statement From Clare County Council
Clare County Council’s Capital Delivery team, led by Adrian Headd, Senior Executive Engineer, are working diligently to ensure projects under construction are delivered before year end. In spite of the impact of Covid-19 we are on track for delivery of social housing units at Quilty, Sixemilebridge and Kilmihil before year end. These are in addition to the schemes completed earlier in the year.
In addition, developments through Approved Housing Bodies at Cahercalla and Newmarket-on-Fergus are on course to complete before year end.
The figure of 154 was the output for build, acquisition and leasing for 2019. We are currently on track to output ~150 units through build, acquisition and leasing for 2020.
