The number of social housing projects delivered in Clare last year was just one tenth of the number of applications for housing to Clare County Council.
The local authority received 804 applications to its housing list in 2020, with 74 projects being delivered.
A Freedom of Information request from Clare FM shows around 800 applications are made to Clare County Council’s social housing list each year – and it appears to be a struggle for the local authority to keep up with that demand.
804 applications were made in 2020, which is a 6% jump in 2019 – though the Council says that can’t be considred a cumulative figure and should be considered with approved applicants, which equates to around 3,000 households.
110 applications in April of this year was the highest monthly figure since October 2018.
2020 saw 74 units delivered – including in Ennis, Kilmihil and Sixmilebridge – while 2019 saw 77 units completed – some are built from scratch, some are bought by the Council directly and others are leased.
That’s a drop from the 122 units delivered in 2018 here, though there are more houses being constructed by the Council itself – 59 have been built since 2019, and just six were built in the three years prior.
Around 1,300 households were on the social housing list as of April, with priorities allocated in the basis of the local authority’s Social Housing Allocation Scheme.
The Council says it’s performing strongly in the delivery of its capital programme and has over 300 units at various stages of delivery – understood to include projects in Ennistymon and Miltown Malbay.
It says land availability remains a ‘significant obstacle’, but that it continues to ‘pursue development opportunities as they arise’.
Statement from Clare County Council:
‘The figures show consistent demand for social housing support in the county with an average of ~800 housing application forms received annually. Some of these applications will be refused as the applicants do not qualify for social housing support. The ~800 applications annually cannot be considered as a cumulative figure and must be considered with reference to the list of approved social housing applicants which equates to ~3000 applicants. Of these ~3000 households ~1600 are transfer applicants i.e. households are in accommodation be it in private rented supported through the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme or Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) or are existing tenants of social housing.
The net need for social housing is reported annually following the Social Housing Assessment, this reported the need in 2020 as 1209 households, 2019 = 1070 households and in 2018 = 1007 households.
Clare County Council is performing strongly in the delivery of our capital programme having ramped up output considerably since 2018 and now have over 300 units at various stages of delivery, i.e. planning, design, construction. Covid-19 has had a significant impact on outturn in that in the region of 100 units of accommodation due for delivery in late 2021 will now not be delivered until 2022. Land availability in areas of highest demand is a significant obstacle for this Council, however we continue to pursue development opportunities as they arise.’
