Sinn Féin junior Housing spokesperson Deputy Dessie Ellis said today that the reliance on Rapid Housing Build in Minister Simon Coveney’s action plan on housing is unrealistic given the difficulties that the Government has had to date with similar builds on a smaller scale.
The Dublin North-West TD said:
“Minister Coveney’s action plan on housing and homelessness launched today is unclear in sections on how he will actually deal with the housing crisis. The latest Government figures in the action plan showed that in May there were 1054 families homeless across the state; last month saw an increase in these figures.
“These plans to deal with this crisis in the action plan for housing and homelessness are based in part on the rapid build housing plan. Notwithstanding the unrealistic targets set for completion of the rapid housing build, the plan is also unclear on if the tenants moved into these rapid housing units are there on a temporary or permanent basis. Adding to that uncertainty is the number of finished units in three years can be seen as unrealistic, especially compared to experience of the previous plan.
“The action plan today outlines how 1500 rapid housing units will be finished by 2018. We have seen some of this before as there was a rapid-delivery housing programme rolled out in October 2015 for homeless families then residing in hotels and B&B’s by Alan Kelly, which was to deliver 500 units by the end of this year.
“However, in an answer to a Parliamentary Question Minister Coveney told me last month that out of the 500 promised, 22 were actually built so far, with the possibility of 171 of being finished by the end of the year. In realistic terms, the completion of 1500 in three years has to be taken with a pinch of salt. At this moment, we are nowhere near completing the previous plan for rapid build housing and that’s before even we start this new one.”