A Tipperary TD believe the council’s housing target is too low to deal with the crisis the county is facing.
Mattie McGrath saying the crisis is only getting worse with more and more people locked out from the opportunity to buy a home.
The Tipperary TD says there are virtually no properties available to rent in the county and that an income of €75,000 was needed to secure a mortgage to purchase a new house in the county.
Tipperary council housing targets for 2022 show a target new build of homes of 230 units.
The council is optimistic that the target can be delivered.
The Council has a total of 45 housing developments at various stages of progress across the county.
These will deliver a further 581 new social homes over the next 3 years.
At present there are approximately 3500 people on the approved housing applicant list.
As of March the council has 140 vacant houses.
The council is also supporting over 1800 HAP tenancies where financial support is given to tenants renting from a private landlord.
The Department of Housing reports 1,121 households in the county as being assessed as being qualified for and in need of social housing and uses this figure when setting targets for Tipperary.
The Department excludes people that may presently be in accommodation supported by the HAP or RAS financial supports.
The Dáil heard there are only 9 properties on Daft.ie for county Tipperary today.
The Housing Minister assured the Dáil that county was eligible to make applications to the Affordable Housing Fund.
Darragh O’Brien paid tribute to the Director of Services for Housing in Tipperary for work providing housing in general and efforts to support refugees.
The Tipperary TD was sharply critical of government plans to give developers a grant of between €120,000 – €140,000 per apartment they deliver.
The Minster defended housing policy especially a plan to give owner occupiers financial assistance to renovate properties in town centres. The government is on target to build 9,000 social homes this year according to Minister O’Brien
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is to meet with Tipperary County Council officials in Clonmel today and later visit the Kickham Barrack to review the progress on regeneration of the area.
