Ambitious Mayo plan for fast-build homes is a game-changer
by Caoimhín Rowland
How long does it take a person aged 18 to 35 to buy a home in Mayo?
It was a question put to me by a Waterford man named Rob Cass, a leading property consultant with years of experience across the globe in delivering infrastructural projects.
He told me it should be on top of each and every question I ask councillors as we build towards the local elections next year.
My own locale of Lahardane knows all too well the difficulties required in securing a future for its young people - we’ve a park dedicated to its resulting tragedy.
In the modern age, despite government ministers boasting record GDP and employment figures, the tide hasn’t stemmed.
Down the village recently a few of us totted up the number of young people from the area who left for Australia. We couldn’t agree on a precise number, was it was 14 or 16 - parish boundaries came into play.
The latter is of course greater, but the former rings eerily home.
Opting for foreign climes isn’t new and should be encouraged as much as possible. Even from a younger age we should have schools embracing Erasmus schemes and building partnerships through routes from our local international airport.
We can be judged by fashionistas in Milan and pick-pocketed in Barcelona, all from an airfield near Kilkelly.
But what about the potential in adding vibrancy to our own towns and villages for young Italians, Germans and Spanish who want to learn English, experience something different and earn a wage working here, in Mayo?
We hear you. It's the housing stupid, sure where would you put them?
Don’t we have to export our own children to Dubai, Vancouver and Brisbane to make space as it is. We can barely cope.
The issue, it seems, is just too damn big. Well what if I said there is light at the end of the tunnel, and no I’m not jockeying for a cushy number in the Department of Housing.
But here in Mayo there are real signs of workhorse behaviour beginning to bear fruit.
The announcement made by director of housing services with Mayo County Council, Tom Gilligan, that the authority has procured land in Bangor Erris, Ballina and Lahardane to place fast-build homes to meet what is currently an unsustainable demand for housing is a game-changer.
People in our communities who are facing displacement due to pyrite issues, buckling social housing waiting lists and refugees fleeing war have placed unquantifiable strain on our county council.
To make matters worse, they’ve been told by excel junkies up in Dublin that they can’t build or buy any homes for well over a decade now.
Fortunately, blue skies are emerging.
After months of Daft.ie only reporting 20 or so properties to let in all of Mayo, at the time of writing that number has trebled.
The RPZ imposed on Westport’s LEA could be a factor, many lets taken off Airbnb for the quieter winter months or most likely a realisation by property owners that the market now deems €1,200 a month suitable for a studio apartment in Bohola.
Affordability remains an issue in the private rental market, but with more and more vacant homes being offered for sale and being renovated via Croí Conaithe and the innovative Mayo County Council matchmaking scheme this could see prices for renting decrease.
During his premiership, Enda Kenny infamously stated and repeated, you can’t build a house overnight.
Tom Gilligan and those behind the plan to acquire 200 fast-build homes from a company in the UK claim it takes four weeks to develop a three-bed turn-key home.
Not exactly overnight Enda but in a housing emergency, it’s the next best thing.
Already, we have seen modular fast-build in Claremorris and it’s high time we see it scaled up even further for everyone in the community who needs a home.
Give young people the potential to buy their own place and live independently.
Because, as it stands, according to CSO figures it takes a young person in Mayo 42 years to save up to buy a home.
Fancy getting a mortgage on a pension?