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THE GOVERNMENT HAS been criticised for reportedly delivering only 20 council houses in the first half of this year – all of which were completed in the first three months of 2015.
The Anti-Austerity Alliance, citing the Department of Environment’s own latest figures, said that 20 local authority houses had been built in the first quarter of 2015.
A grand total of zero had been delivered in quarter two according to the Department’s figures:
Last November, the government committed to supplying 35,000 additional social housing units – at a cost of €3.8 billion – over the next six years.
With just 20 delivered by the mid-point of this year, it’s unsurprising that AAA TD Ruth Coppinger lashed the government for the lack of progress as the housing crisis dominates the political agenda.
“How in the midst of the worst housing crisis in living memory can the government think that the building of council homes shouldn’t feature?” Coppinger said yesterday.
How can Alan Kelly brag about the biggest ever investment in housing without one solitary council house completed in three months? These figures are shocking and shameful.
However, the Department of Environment hit back, insisting the figure of 20 – which is their own - was “grossly out of date”.
A spokesperson for the Department told RTÉ that, in fact, between Christmas 2013 and Christmas this year local authorities are on course to put 4,800 void (empty) homes to use.
They added that 3,500 social houses are currently under construction and that by 2017 5,000 units per year will have been completed.
Coppinger hit back today, pointing out that the government’s claim of the figures being “grossly out of date” didn’t stack up when they were published by the Department of Environment on 22 October – just three weeks ago.
Coppinger said:
If these figures are ‘grossly out of date’ as the government are trying to claim, my question is has the government built thousands of new council homes in the last three weeks?
The Dublin West TD said a situation had emerged whereby the government is now contradicting its own figures because the opposition had highlighted them. She said
The government should clarify the situation with the latest up-to-date figures since 22 October if they are so grossly out of date and loads of new homes have been built.
So this afternoon, TheJournal.ie submitted four fairly simple questions to the Department of Environment:
The Department did not directly answer our questions in its response, nor did it dispute the eye-catching figure of only 20 council houses so far this year.
They told us that in deciding on targets, the social housing strategy determined that the new-build programme would be “slow in the initial phases of the strategy as the planning and design and tendering processes had to be progressed first”.
However the Department insisted that it was confident that 7,000 units will be delivered this year through build acquisitions and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (which is for those on rent supplement for a long period) and leasing, and 8,400 under the Housing Assistance Payment scheme, which will be replacing rent supplement.
The Department also repeated that there are currently 3,500 social houses under construction nationwide.
By 2017 the government expects to be building some 5,000 new houses per annum, the Department said. It added:
We have already finalised in excess of a 1,000 voids this year and by the end of the year this will climb to 2,400 approximately.
It added that historically the final quarter of the year “sees an accelerated level of delivery as LAs [local authorities] finish out projects, finalise purchases/leases etc in order to draw down the funding before the end of the year”.
In conclusion, it is correct to say that only 20 council houses were built in the first half of 2015. But the Department appears confident that it will have delivered significantly more than that by the end of the year and many more in the years ahead.
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How the hell did it cost $1400 to build. You’d make that for 80 quid.
for 1400 he could have bought a mobile home or a serious tent/camper combo with gas cooker and electrics.
I’d say they journal forgot the decimal point.
.
It should read $11.40
I hope so, otherwise that lad is a dope.
He used the same builder that put up the temporary housing units for €190,000 a pop……….
He could have used anything up to 8 sheets of marine plywood for this, add couple of tins of polish to give a good finish, it has timber internal framing too, given that hes an illustrator probably needed to buy a circular saw for couple of hundred, possibly had to buy his own bed and quilting. strip light could be 40-50 quid. Cost would add up easily enough.
A top of the range 12v leisure battery with trickle or automatic charger or even solar panels to keep his ‘lights’ on, a high end makita circular saw, the timber and ply if he replaced with oak, and if he polished it in gold dust (and that doesn;t look polished to me) wouldn’t cost him 1400
Sorry man, but that could be made for free. I think it’s an error in the article. If not, his rent is the least of his worries.
Just glanced at his blog and he did indeed pay 1300 to have it made. Talk about stupidity.
but how would you know how much things cost is SF ? Just asking.
I checked. It’s far cheaper than here. Googled the costs of materials. I also import tools and camping gear from the US regularly as it’s half the price of the UK.
Didn’t even get a lick of ronseal
Fair play – just asking. Maybe it includes land rent !!!
€1500 to live in a plywood crate? I have a barna shed he can have for a grand a month
He’s probably wondering why he hasn’t had any takers on his great idea. If he popped down to any industrial estate or any importers in SF, he would have got that for free. They would be more than happy for him to take it away.
He pays $400 to live there not 1500
And put it where Smeghead?
Put it on a campsite in san francisco for 10 dollars a night. Buy a camper for 1400.
It’ll be some craic in the pod when he has kids.
What’s the point, other than to fulfill some need for attention on social media?
Shared a room a few times in university/J1 etc. One room, two beds… No big deal. Plenty of people I know who grew up in the 80′s/90′s shared a room with a sibling. No one ever saw the need to build a ridiculous crate to live in.
I really don’t know how to take the current generation of 20 somethings and the way they carry on.
That’s true Drew, some of the places I shared in my college years would make the 20+ generation toes curl, one room with two beds, kitchenette in a corner of the room, and one had a shared bathroom and loo down the hall. It’d been much cheaper for him to go and buy a damn bed, oh and in no way did that thing cost 1400.
Your comment shows what are ridiculous nation we’ve become that apparently it hasn’t been acceptable for siblings to share a room since the 90′s. Don’t think we need to look to the US for ridiculousness.
is it unacceptable I wonder. Families are smaller I suppose as the cost of raising kids is now so high. Well for most of us anyway,
He may avoid the stout whilst living in that thing. One fart and he’s brown bread.
That’s why he put in the sky light.
Wanna come back to my pod?
Nevermind him, can you imagine having that in your sitting room! No one take any notice of the man in the box. It would just be so awkward
Hope the landlords don’t see this article b giving them ideas
If my missus sees this, that’s me done for !
Wife jokes are so 90′s
This was supposed to be posted yesterday I take it…?
I was written shortly after it appeared on Reddit ;)
It blows all the irish building regulations out the windows and health and safety will probably get toffee nosed about pod living too.
Jaysus my dogs kennel is nearly that size
rental opportunity !!!
W**k box
That’s existing. Just. Don’t show Alan Kelly. He will have us all back to tenements in no time.
Looks cosy.
Looks like what dob and edna would dream up to solve the housing crisis at a substancial cost to the taxpayer of course
Sure does anyone remember some of the adverts online over here ? Someone was actually advertising a bed for rent under the stairs in a house .
It would be funny if his mate put the couch in front of the entrance…nice chest of drawers behind the couch as well to give him a bit of a challange
Sure makes moving out of the parents home look ‘great’!
He won’t get his hole in there
Um fire hazard?
I hope he doesn’t get an Irish roommate. There’d be a firelog and a shovel of coal in on top of him
And the top of his box used as a bar counter.
80? With the bedding, the storage space, shelves/desk, the lights etc?
Yes. A saw, a measuring tape, and those are fairy lights operated by a simple battery most likely, the bedding you’d pick up in a second hand shop or second hand for peanuts. People dump stuff like that, nor a mind say sell it.
Tbh, it’s comical anyone would spend 1400 on a dog kennel. And a dog kennel would be better built than that yoke. I’d knock that together in 2-3 hours.
And I’d do it for free by picking up pallets.
Uhhhh yeah…
$20 for cheap used bedding… $800 to rid your apartment of bed bugs, or loose your security deposit.
Yeah Drew, cos landlords the world over are known to buy all their furniture brand new for lettings.
Does he have a rest room in there ?
Where’s Dave? Ah, he moved in to the sideboard…
America, the greatest country on earth? You wouldn’t have people living like this in the third world.
The Japanese would just love that accommodation.
“Workaholics who live in rabbit warrens”.
.
What a tool
This was written and published just to shake the housing market a bit more in ireland….. that would be the next option for landlords trying to get more money for an apt
Man in a box right there
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