County Mayo short 90 homes as social housing targets missed by 23%
County Mayo missed its social housing delivery target by 23% between 2022 and 2024, leaving the county short by 90 houses.
The statistics, released by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, show that of a target of 395 houses, only 304 were built.
The issue was raised by Cllr Michael Kilcoyne at the last meeting of Mayo County Council where he questioned management on the shortfall.
“You achieved 77% of the target in a county where we have over 200 people in emergency accommodation. I think it's a reasonable question to ask, why did you miss the target by so much?”
His question was aimed at the Director of Services Tom Gilligan, who stated that Mayo County Council did deliver on its targets. However, the shortfall arose in contributions from the Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs).
Under the Housing For All plan, local authorities are responsible for 60pc of new-build social houses, while AHBs are responsible for the remaining 40pc. Housing can be built directly by a local authority or an AHB, alternatively it can be delivered through turnkey, the purchasing of new housing units from private developers.
“In Mayo our target was 395 houses. The council itself, and through turnkey, delivered 63pc of that, a total of 250. The AHB sector for that three-year period delivered 38 units, and 16 units were delivered through part five,” said Mr Gilligan
Part five refers to a part of the planning legislation that allows local authorities to purchase a percentage of land for housing development, where planning permission has already been granted. They can purchase up to 20pc of the land at market value and use it to deliver social and affordable housing.
Mr Gilligan continued, “The reality is that in the last three years or so, the council itself delivered. The AHBs did not deliver. I’ve raised this on numerous occasions, outlined it to the members, and I’ve also raised it with the department. Unfortunately we have a very low level of activity here in relation to AHBs.”
In response to this, Cllr Kilcoyne said: “Over the three-year period, the number of houses - whether it was the man on the moon, Santa Claus, the council or the AHBs who built them - were 90 short.”
Speaking to the Irish Independent after the meeting, Cllr Kilcoyne expanded on this remark:
“I don't need excuses, I just want it corrected and done. It seems to me the local authority always has somebody else to blame except themselves. Management in Mayo County Council always puts forward whatever is necessary to avoid taking the blame,
“I regard the excuse given as a flimsy excuse. The fact is, the management of Mayo County Council, for whatever reason, missed their target by 90 houses. You can blame everybody else, the storm, Christmas, the weather, or the man on the moon. At the end of the day they are the housing authority.”
The Irish Independent also spoke to Mr Gilligan after the meeting. He reiterated that the council is responsible for 60pc of new-build social houses, they delivered 63pc, and 77pc of the overall target was achieved.
“Unfortunately, the delivery levels in Mayo by the AHB sector have not yet reached the scale required to meet our ambitious housing targets. We remain committed to achieving our targets overall and working with various stakeholders in order for that to happen,” he said.
Mr Gilligan pointed out that western counties are not attracting the same attention from large-scale AHBs as those on the east coast,
“As regards the large AHBs, they have concentrated on the urban centres and the larger local authorities, particularly on the east coast. I would say it’s a situation where the population demand is higher, the economies are of scale, developments are viable and there is greater access to infrastructure services,
“Rural and regional areas like Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim often fall outside their core delivery focus, which is regrettable.”
The statistics show that in Sligo, 55pc of its 270 house target was met. Of the 149 houses that were built, 29 were delivered by AHBs. Meaning the AHBs produced only 19pc of their 40pc build target.
In contrast, Meath had a target of 832 houses but built 1,405, achieving 168pc of its target. Of these, AHBs produced 682 houses. In Laois, the target was 359 houses but 670 were built, smashing the target by 187pc. AHBs produced 395 of these houses in Laois. For comparison, Mayo’s overall target for 2022-2024 was also 395.
Mr Gilligan raised the issue with the Department for Housing, he said that it has been acknowledged by them,
“I’m hopeful that as part of the new Housing For All plan that will be coming out in September, there will be more emphasis on the larger AHBs and they will develop and build more houses here in the west of Ireland,
“There is a huge need here, we have the same housing crisis as the rest of the country.”
He noted that housing bodies Tuath and Co-Operative Housing Ireland are working on projects in the county, but mentioned it would be great to get other large-scale AHBs such as Respond and Clúid, to turn their attention to Mayo.
In response to Cllr Kilcoyne’s criticism that the council was placing blame elsewhere, and his description of the AHBs explanation as a "flimsy excuse”, Mr Gilligan said:
“I’m not into the blame game myself, it's not about trying to portion blame or demonise anyone in the sector. We really do want to work collaboratively with housing bodies to deliver,
“Cllr Kilcoyne is right, we do have a housing crisis, we do have people on our housing list, we have people who are in emergency accommodation and we want to provide long term sustainable housing for people. We all have to get involved in order to make that happen,
“If you look in relation to a tripod, we are one leg of that. We need the other two legs as well. The AHBs and part five.”
In county Leitrim, AHBs produced zero houses between 2022 - 2024, but the county still managed 98pc of its 82 house target. Leitrim County Council built 73 houses meeting 89pc of the 60pc target. The remaining seven houses were delivered through part five.
Cllr Kilcoyne called on Mayo County Council to take responsibility for housing delivery. The statistics from Leitrim suggest their council took on the responsibility Cllr Kilcoyne believes is needed in Mayo.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.