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Cllr Deirdre Ferris.
A TRALEE Municipal District councillor has proposed the local authority no longer build one-bedroom properties and compensate by building extra two-bedroom properties.
Sinn Fein Cllr Deirdre Ferris put forward the motion at the online meeting of Tralee MD of Kerry County Council on Monday, following on from a similar motion she moved at the full meeting of the Council earlier this month.
Cllr Ferris said they cost nearly the same to build and this has proven to be a deterrent in building them, hence the extensive waiting list for one-bedroom properties in the Tralee area.
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Also, she said, there is more encouragement and focus on aging health care being recommended to be done in the home and space should be provided for overnight carers to accommodate for this.
Cllr Ferris said she has heard of family members and carers sleeping on the floor and some forward thinking was needed on the issue.
Fianna Fáil Cllr Johnnie Wall seconded the motion and said he had a big problem with one-bed builds as two-beds don’t cost much more.
In reply, Council management said they currently have 18 one-bed properties at design construction representing 13% of new build dwellings in the Tralee Municipal District, while 30 two-bed units are at design/construction phase representing 21% of new build dwellings in progress in Tralee MD.
Under the statutory provisions, the Council is obliged to determine the actual need of the applicant by having regard to their actual need and seek solution to housing need on that basis.
Therefore, it is not possible under the current regulations to automatically determine everyone who has been assessed as having a one-bedroom need as automatically having a two-bedroom need.
They said from a practical consideration and notwithstanding the shortage of one-bed availability, such a move, even if allowed, would prevent them from allocating any one-bed and would negate any sourcing of such properties or building of same. It also would provide practical difficulties in operating schemes such as HAP.
The Council also said many national initiatives in the area of homelessness are operated and predicated on the provision of one-bed interventions only and two-bed units cannot be utilised for this purpose.
I like Sinn Fein’s Cllr Deirdre Ferris, she has common sense – something not so common after all!
Kerry County Council should be buying and building 2 bed properties as a matter of priority.
What is really disturbing is that young one child families are being given 2 beds, this discourages them from have more children!
Housing Policies are shaping the future demographics of the native population, making Ireland dependant on immigration to sustain an aging population.
This is stealing the developing worlds human resources, for them to pay taxes here.
The same aging population being placed in one beds with no opportunity to have a carer or relative to stay over and care for them.
Reform is needed urgently.