Comment: Affordable housing exposed as unaffordable to most in Mayo

A major rethink is required on the government’s affordable housing programme which, it would seem, is not affordable to the majority of people.

It follows the revelation at a meeting of Mayo County Council's housing strategic policy committee that the vast proportion of people wishing to avail of affordable housing are not in a financial position to meet the cost of a home under the regulations.

The scheme, first and foremost, is open to people earning over €27,500.

That figure is the income threshold to qualify for social housing, so affordable housing is for those earning more than that.

Now the current all-in-cost to build a three-bedroom family home in Mayo is estimated to be between €260,000 to €280,000.

But only four per cent of the near 800 Mayo people who expressed an interest in purchasing an affordable house admitted they could afford to pay for a house in that price bracket, leaving the remainder of them out in the cold, so to speak.

Eleven per cent said they could pay up to €200,000 – but that left a shortfall of up to €80,000.

Based on this analysis, the affordable housing programme is clearly not fit for purpose, leading Councillor Michael Kilcoyne to proclaim that those who cannot get social housing or a mortgage ‘are condemned to poverty forever’ by their government.

However, he is not prepared to accept defeat on the matter, insisting that Mayo County Council must open up dialogue with the Department of Housing in order to address a situation that is surely affecting young people in other counties.

He also wants the county’s four TDs to start banging on proverbial doors in Dublin to find a solution.

When An Taoiseach Micheál Martin was in Mayo recently, he said that if Mayo has an affordable housing need of 800, then Mayo County Council should be applying for schemes to provide homes for these people.

But now it seems that affordable houses are anything but affordable to the greater majority of people.

That’s a shocking state of affairs, to say the least, at a time of such a serious housing crisis.

Shameful, in fact.

The current government had set out its stall earlier this year with its ‘Housing for All’ strategy.

But, evidently, it was not properly researched by seeking out the views of people who need housing.

It’s back to the drawing board for ‘Housing for All’ now.