The delivery of social housing has increased in County Cork, North Cork Fine Gael Councillor John Paul O’Shea has said.
As part of a commitment to drive greater transparency and accountability for the delivery of social housing across the country, the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, published social housing delivery targets for the high-level programmes of build, acquisition, leasing, the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Scheme, and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), for all 31 local authorities recently.
Speaking about the increases in County Cork, Cllr. O’Shea said: “The delivery of social housing in County Cork increased in 2018 and actually exceeded the target set under Fine Gael’s Rebuilding Ireland plan.
“410 new social houses were delivered in County Cork through new builds and acquisition of properties, as well as long-term leasing.
“When you add in the RAS and HAP schemes, the number of households whose social housing needs were met in 2018 was 1,565. These figures mean that County Cork exceeded its target by 6%.
“Nationally, the target for social housing delivery in 2018, under Fine Gael’s Rebuilding Ireland plan, was exceeded by 6% allowing the housing needs of over 27,103 households to be met. There was an 85% increase in new build social homes in 2018 when compared to 2017. One in four houses built was a social house.
“The total housing budget in 2019 will be almost €2.4bn, a 26% increase. This investment will see the social housing needs of almost 27,400 households met in 2019 and I look forward to more people and families in County Cork benefitting,” Cllr. O’Shea said.
