Minister criticised over housing letter to council

A NORTHSIDE councillor has hit out at Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy after he wrote to some Local Authorities, including Fingal County Council, stating more needed to be done to tackle the homeless crisis.

Cllr Malachy Quinn (SF), who represents the Balbriggan Local Electoral Area (LEA), said the core problem is not Fingal County Council but Fine Gael.

“The Minister will not provide the council with sufficient funding to deliver large-scale mixed income and mixed tenure developments providing social and affordable housing on public land with public money despite repeated calls from Sinn Féin and others to do so,” said Cllr Quinn.

“They have imposed cumbersome, expensive and slow delivering public private partnerships and land initiative funding models rather than allowing councils to borrow the funds directly from the Housing Finance Agency or European Investment Bank.”

In a statement to Northside People, Minister Murphy said he has spent the last 14 months defending and promoting the great work that some local authorities are doing when it comes to building new homes.

“It’s great to see them defending their own record and people recognising their work,” he said.

“But my letter wasn’t about that – it was about the fact that we have an unacceptable level of families in hotels and some councils are still not doing enough about that.

“The relevant councils should be focussing on putting a plan together, not criticising me for demanding that they do more.

“I understand the strong reaction, because what I’m proposing is unprecedented. But that’s just how serious this crisis is.”

Northside People requested a copy of the letter but was informed it was a “private correspondence” between Minister Murphy and the council.

However, at the council’s monthly meeting on September 10, chief executive Paul Reid informed councillors he has written to Minister Murphy in response to
his letter, dated September 5, in relation to ‘Tackling Homelessness in Fingal County
Council’.

Mr Reid said Minister Murphy’s request for a submission to be prepared for the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive on Fingal County Council’s plans in relation to Emergency Accommodation and Family Hubs was compiled and submitted by the deadline of September 12.

In his letter to Minister Murphy, Mr Reid addressed the issue of homelessness in Fingal and the council’s focus on minimising the time people spent in emergency accommodation with 259 families having already exited this year.

He also highlighted the council’s performance within the Rebuilding Ireland programme where it exceeded its 2015-2017 target by 62 percent in delivering 2,241 social housing homes and is currently on schedule to meet its 2018 target of providing 1,637 homes having already delivered 1,099 to the end of August.

Mr Reid also highlighted the council’s efforts in stimulating construction within the private sector with housing completions in Fingal up by over 70 percent year on year while there are currently 72 active sites which will deliver over 12,000
homes with planning permission for another 55 sites and over 5,000 more homes.

He added that Fingal is committed to providing affordable as well as social homes and is progressing with plans to develop land banks in its ownership across the county.

Mr Reid concluded his letter to Minister Murphy by stating Fingal County Council is conscious that more needs to be done and that the Minister will continue to receive his fullest support and that of the council’s housing department.