Portlaoise Sinn Féin highlights housing crisis
BY ROISIN DE ROSA
``You could scarcely credit it, that in these days of a booming economy, I have people coming to my door every week looking for a place to live,'' says Brian Stanley, a town commissioner in Portlaoise. ``There are people who are working two or three jobs, yet who cannot afford a house. People have been on the council housing list for years and have no immediate prospect of getting housed. Some are living in really appalling conditions, paying exorbitant rents. It is a scandal.
``And what is worse is that the Dublin government's policy on housing offers no solution whatever. It is a typical EU-inspired strategy of piggy backing on the private sector to meet the immediate social needs of a very large section of our people, especially the young people.''
Government offers 20%
Government policy has created the present housing crisis by selling off local authority housing, and by refusing to invest in affordable housing. Instead, the government proposed the Local Government Planning and Development Act, 2000, which specifies that up to 20% of land zoned for residential use, or mixed residential and other uses, could be reserved for social or affordable housing. Last summer, the Supreme Court declared this act constitutional, and local authorities are now in the process of drawing up housing strategies for the next three or four years and integrating them into their area development plans.
``Where does this leave us in Laois?'' Commissioner Brian Stanley asks. ``With over 500 applicants on our housing list, we in the Portlaoise area have been allocated a ridiculous 64 new housing starts over the next four years. Recently the County Council have increased this by 26.''
It means that the council and Department of Environment have not the least intention of housing those on the list over the next four years. Our need this year is 500-plus housing units. Compulsory Purchase orders, as provided for under the 1966 Housing Act, gives the council the power to provide these. Why don't they?''
Sinn Féin Submission
``We in Sinn Féin put forward a submission last month to the County Council on the provision of housing in the Portlaoise area. We called on the County Council to meet our housing needs now and to use its powers to CPO to acquire the necessary land. We called on the council to ensure that housing development is integrated into transport plans for the area and meets our inevitable waste strategy needs for separated waste collections.
``We addressed the scandal that a large number of houses that the Council sold to their tenants in recent years have ended up in the hands of local multi-property landlords, who are charging extortionate rents, often paid through social support schemes, which at the end of the day must be paid by the taxpayer.
``We dealt with the question of the private rented sector, where rents have risen out of all proportion, for what is often substandard accommodation that does not even meet fire and safety regulations. We called on the council to implement the existing law to force the registration of landlords, and to inspect their property.
Consult people on housing list
``And we have called on the Council to avail of the Department of Environment grants to consult with those in need of housing, to make the housing allocation transparent and democratic, instead of driving one family against another, in terms of priority on the list. This only has the result of feathering the councillors' and commissioners' nests by allowing them to suggest that it was their influence that won a house for one family or another.
``This is the scandal of clientelism which has to end. We want to see the provisions for forming housing associations explained. We don't need to rely on existing housing associations, where the tenants never get to own their houses, when groups can come together themselves without outside direction or management. This is the democratic way to deal with the housing crisis.
Emergency accommodation
``And finally, we urged the County Council to make immediate and urgent provision for emergency accommodation for people who become homeless. At present, people must go to Carlow or Athlone.
``It has to be asked, will our submission change things? Will Laois County Council take seriously its obligation to people who cannot afford to buy a house at current prices, or put a halt to taxpayers' money being spent to subsidise landlords?
Local democracy
``This is the crux of our problem in Portlaoise,'' says Brian Stanley, ``where we are penalised because we have only a Town Commission, with no direct authority over housing whatever. Tullamore, or Athy, inexplicably, have Urban District Councils, yet Portlaoise, which is an expanding town of at least 16,000 people, (about the same as Tullamore and far more than Athy) has a town commission with little more powers than a tenants' association. Our town commission has a budget of £66,000. Haughey spent more on his shirts than that.''
``Where is the provision for local democracy or equality in representation? That is the question Bertie Ahern has to answer, as Minister Noel Dempsey dismantles the power of county councils to decide on waste management and Minister Bobby Molloy acts to retain the housing crisis.''
This reporter can be contacted at Roisinderosa@hotmail.com
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