‘Empty nesters’ in social housing could free up homes for larger Galway families, councillor says
A proposal to gather a list of social housing tenants interested in downsizing was raised at this Galway City Hall this month, in the hope of increasing availability for larger families in need of more bedrooms.
During the October Galway City Council meeting, Labour Councillor Helen Ogbu called for a list to be gathered of social housing tenants whose circumstances have changed over time.
Specifically, the list would include families who once required three or four-bedroom homes for their growing children but now find themselves as empty nesters seeking to downsize.
Cllr Ogbu suggested that such a list could be cross-referenced with larger families currently on the social housing waiting list or those in need of more space, allowing both sets of tenants to move into homes better suited to their needs.
“There's scarcity of four-bed houses. We have a lot of families who have a lot of kids, and they are being cramped in three-bed houses.” Cllr Ogbu told the Irish Independent.
“It's just for us to review, take stock of some of those social houses and people who have been assigned like four-bedroom houses or even three-bedroom houses in the past and see if they are willing or interested in downsizing.”
“This might be a way of meeting some of those needs and ensuring that we have the right type of accommodation for families.”
Some of Cllr Ogbu’s constituents, she added, have communicated that they would welcome an opportunity to downsize as their children move out of the home and they get older.
In response, the director of services said the proposal was part of a broader national agenda and that specific data would be needed before any resources could be allocated to the project.
However, Cllr Helen Ogbu argued the initiative could start at a hyper-local level in Galway.
“The individual councils have the list of people that are occupying the accommodation. I don't think it's something that they need to wait nationally. It's something that could be implemented by Galway,” she said.