Mayo councillors feeling the heat over local housing crisis

by Caoimhín Rowland

Councillors have laid bare the horrific levels of calls they’re receiving from members of the public in desperate housing situations.

“Mayo never had this word ‘homelessness’ in our vocabulary,” Fianna Fáil councillor Annie May Reape said at the June county council meeting.

“Indeed, even when we were at our poorest, there was always a place for someone,” she told her fellow councillors.

Today, Mayo has 217 people residing in emergency accommodation. In December 2023, that number was just 92.

Previously, homes may not have been A-rated or kitted out with heat pumps, but they were homes.

There were no hoteliers transforming their lodgings from small B&Bs into homeless hubs.

Housing hysteria has reached new heights in Mayo, and those responsible are nowhere to be found.

At the most recent meeting, it became painfully clear that housing has now become a luxury.

Councillors expressed frustration at receiving desperate calls, late at night, on weekends when the council is closed, from constituents in crisis. Pleas so severe that only seasoned mental health professionals might be able to cope with them.

Councillor Annie May Reape recounted spending two hours with a young mother in crisis, calling every number she could find, eventually securing just one room in Glenamaddy, a 160km round trip from Ballina. No consideration for the children's schooling or the emotional damage such displacement could cause. But it was the best this councillor could offer.

Ballina, in particular, has seen new housing construction stagnate.

A laggard in 2024, the Ballina Municipal District built only 57 new dwellings, according to CSO data. Only Swinford performed worse, with 53. By comparison, Westport led with 165 new homes, Castlebar followed with 134, Belmullet built 83, and Claremorris 85.

Ballina councillors will also recall their struggles with the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR), which rejected every zoning proposal in the north Mayo town when developing their Local Area Plan.

Now, they are being told to reopen the same plan within the next six months, and will likely be forced to zone areas previously ruled out just over a year ago.

Each step forward is two steps back when it comes to being a councillor in this country.

The reality is stark. Councillors who keep their phones on 24/7 know this better than anyone. But this is not just a local issue, it’s a national blockage, a buck-passing blame game that has culminated in an unprecedented housing shortfall.

The government’s latest announcement, to expand the Rent Pressure Zone nationally from March 2026, includes special allowances for new builds meant to spur construction. But worryingly, the plan suggests increasing rents to make development financially attractive, with the assumption this will later reduce rents. Yet again, a policy failure from a government seemingly bereft of fresh ideas.

Modular units were also raised during the council meeting. If the OPW can build them in Claremorris for Ukrainian refugees, why not for Mayo’s homeless? councillors asked. While that was not a council-led project, surely some similar scheme should be explored to address the chronic supply issue.

Claremorris Councillor Richard Finn noted that most of Mayo’s homeless are Irish, a nod to the populist narrative of homes being taken from Irish people for IPAS residents.

The reasons people become homeless are complex, said housing director Tom Gilligan, but one truth is indisputable - the gutting of local authorities in 2014 and their loss of home building has brought us to where we are today.

Building has dropped off since then with banks afraid of developers due to recent history and rising rents gobbling people’s income before they can save for a deposit.

Nationally, the number of international applicants is down, and asylum applications have significantly declined compared to the same period last year. Yet Mayo still hosts 1,715 people in emergency accommodation - up from 836 in 2023.

Ten per cent of the cost of housing the homeless falls to Mayo County Council, while IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Services) is the responsibility of the Department of Integration.

As the figures from IPAS reduce, with speedier processing times and most ultimately moving to bigger cities than staying in Mayo, it will be former IPAS sites diversifying into the homeless market.

Still, the rising local costs of housing people in hotels and B&Bs have already pushed the council beyond its budget, according to senior officials.

Castlebar Independent Councillor Harry Barrett brought a motion to declare a housing emergency in Mayo, a motion passed and co-signed by Councillor Chris Maxwell.

Maxwell again floated the idea of mobile homes as a temporary solution. Barrett is keen on a vacant homes officer in each municipal district to locate all derelict and vacant properties and bring them into use via CPO.

Indeed, in an emergency, all options should be discussed, tabled, and considered. We need people in homes. We need communities to thrive. And we need to address the scourge of homelessness head-on.

Anyone can become homeless. But what was once seen as a big-city crisis has come home to roost in County Mayo.

The anxieties and fear expressed by councillors are just another symptom of this never-ending crisis.