Welcome for €2.2bn housing investment in the Budget

Senator Mary Moran has welcomed the announcement in Budget 2015 that there will be a €2.2bn public housing investment over the next three years, leading to the building of 10,000 homes.
“This investment over the next three years will certainly address the issue of social housing provision which has become a matter of great urgency. In the first major investment since 2009 in housing, the Government is committed to building 10,000 homes which will provide secure, affordable, long-term homes for people who need them. Initially, 7,500 housing units will be delivered in 2015 through current and capital spending, including the refurbishment of 1,000 vacant units. The sight of boarded up and derelict houses in areas where people are crying out for housing is unacceptable and I warmly welcome this initiative. Local authorities, who have been playing a very small role in direct housing building for some years, will return to playing a major part in addressing the rising housing need. Local Authority direct build and acquisition will quadruple from 200 units in 2014 to 946 in 2015, increasing the investment by €90million. The decision to return discretion to Community Welfare Officers with regard to the setting of rent allowance rates is a very positive move, particularly in the current climate of the rising cost of private rented accommodation.
'I also welcome the announcement  that 400 new housing units for people with specific needs will be provided and up to 150 new homes for people with disabilities requiring institutional care.  However I have impressed on the Minister the need to vastly improve this figure . I am engaging closely with Louth Co Co to improve housing availability for people with a disability . As Labour Seanad spokesperson on Disability, I receive constant representations from people with specific housing needs who are in urgent need of suitable accommodation which unfortunately is very difficult  to source at present .We are also, as a society, faced with the challenge of accommodating people with disabilities, at a time when residential institutions are closing and parents of adult children with disabilities are reaching an age when they are no longer able to cope.
'The increase in spending on Homelessness services by 20% to €55.5m will bring some relief to those who find themselves in this situation but this Government is also determined to tackle the root causes of homelessness by these major investments in social housing provision over the coming years.”