An Ennis auctioneer is expressing concerns the Government’s ‘Housing For All’ plan isn’t taking into account future population growth in Clare and other coastal counties.
It comes as the Housing Minister has promised the State’s shared equity scheme will be available by mid-November.
The long-awaited Housing For All plan promises to deliver 33 thousand homes, including 10 thousand social homes every year to 2030.
It will also see minimum energy ratings introduced for rental properties, and new local authority home loan applicants will be offered lower interest rates.
Data on vacant properties is being collected, with plans to introduce a vacant property tax by 2023.
A shared equity scheme will also form part of the plan, which is intended to help first time buyers to bridge the gap between what they can afford and the cost of a new build property.
The State will take a stake in the property, which will be free for the first five years followed by a low interest only payment thereafter.
Minister Darragh O Brien has been defending this plan, and explains why it’s different to previous ones:
An Ennis auctioneer though isn’t confident the plan takes future population growth in Clare and other counties along the Western sea board fully into account.
Buying and renting property in Lahinch and other coastal areas of this county has increased sharply since the onset of the pandemic.
Cormac O Sullivan of DNG O Sullivan Hurley Auctioneers in Ennis says there could be problems in the delivery of 1 and 2 bedroom properties due to current high construction costs.
Clare’s Sinn Fein TD, meanwhile, says she wouldn’t stand in the way of one-off housing developments continuing to be approved as a way of mitigating that population growth.
The opposition have been criticisng the government’s plan, calling it a ‘backward step’ in addressing the housing crisis.
Local councillors here have expressed concerns that current national planning policies could lead to the depopulation of rural areas, which has in part caused the delay of the publication of the County Development Plan.
Kilrush-based Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne says current planning permission backlogs need to be addressed by the State.
Overall, the plan promises to create 27,000 new construction jobs and to deliver 300,000 new homes by the end of the decade.
