Charities urge action on vacant properties

GHOST HOUSING estates should be used to tackle homelessness, housing waiting lists and substandard accommodation, housing charities said.

An estimated 100,000 households are on local authority housing waiting lists around the State and up to 5,000 people are homeless, according to homelessness charity Focus Ireland.

It said yesterday that the Government must move quickly to identify suitable housing within the developments surveyed that can be used for social housing.

Mike Allen, director of advocacy with the charity, said a social housing policy expert should be appointed to the Government’s expert group to analyse the units and “quickly determine the stock suitable for social housing”.

There must also be investment in these areas to help deliver sustainable communities. “It is vital the mistakes of the past are not repeated, as too often there was no proper planning around these issues when building many housing estates,” he said.

Aideen Hayden, chairwoman of housing charity Threshold, said the homeless and those on waiting lists should be prioritised, but substandard accommodation should also be examined. Some 40 per cent of cases that presented to the charity for advice about substandard housing were in accommodation funded by the State, she said. It was “totally illogical” for the State to pay for substandard accommodation when these houses were out there. Ms Hayden also suggested some accommodation might be suitable for older people in poor quality homes in need of retro-fitted insulation.

The Respond! housing association called for an independent inquiry into planning practices in Ireland. Spokeswoman Aoife Walsh said there was a complete failure of our planning system during the past decade.