Affordable Housing Partnership (Letter to the Editor – Sunday Tribune)
Dear Editor,
The report “Affordable housing body fails to provide a single home” will sadly come as no surprise to anyone actively involved in the campaign for more social and affordable housing.
In some ways, however, the report did not go far enough in outlining the impact of this “Partnership”. Under the terms of the scheme, State or publicly owned lands will be transferred to private developers in return for the provision of additional housing units elsewhere.
Unfortunately for long suffering applicants on the Dublin City Council Housing lists these new homes – when and if, they are ever built – will be in one of the three Dublin County Council areas and hence they will be excluded from benefiting from the scheme.
Because of the shortage of land in the City, State owned land provided one of the few opportunities for Dublin City Council to provide Social and Affordable housing for local people. The effect of this so called “Partnership” therefore is to reduce even further the possibility of a Dublin City Housing applicant being housed.
The Affordable Housing Partnership is perhaps the meanest stroke ever pulled by an Irish Government. It is certainly the most cynical.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Dermot Lacey
