Mayo councillor calls for affordability test on starter home scheme

Independent Castlebar MD councillor Harry Barrett has called on Mayo County Council to introduce a simple "Affordability Test" for every affordable home it brings to market.

Barrett wants prospective buyers told, before a scheme is even advertised, what household income is realistically needed to buy each home, what mortgage that requires, and roughly what the monthly repayments will be.

The call follows the recent sale of affordable homes at Golf Course Road in Westport, priced between €232,000 and €259,000.

Barrett welcomed the discount on market value but said the council still has to answer a basic question.

"Affordable to who," Barrett said.

Attention now turns to Snugboro in Castlebar, where 35 affordable homes are planned with €2.625 million in Government funding attached - support worth €75,000 per home.

Barrett said he wants those homes to work for nurses, teachers, shop workers, tradespeople and young couples in Castlebar trying to start a family in Mayo.

He argued that mortgage approval does not equal genuine affordability, with buyers still needing to cover childcare, heating, electricity, food, insurance and getting to work.

"I don't want young people in Mayo to be able to borrow more. I want them to need to borrow less," Barrett said.

He said that if a home is going to be called affordable, the council should be able to prove that ordinary working people in Mayo can actually afford it.