A Killarney councillor has claimed Kerry County Council is failing on every front to provide social and affordable housing in the town.
Independent councillor Brendan Cronin asked the council to start making sites available for people if it cannot provide actual houses.
Cllr Cronin raised the issue at the recent Killarney Municipal District meeting.
Cllr Cronin proposed that since the council has failed to provide or build any affordable houses in the MD, the council’s Housing Department make available affordable sites from council lands.
This, he said, would help people that have been approved for mortgages but are being constantly outbid in trying to buy a house.
In response, the council said it currently has a limited available land bank for social housing, and it’s continuously trying to acquire lands to add to this land bank for social housing purposes.
The council said it’s not feasible at this time, given the limited lands available, to provide council-owned lands for sale, when the lands are suitable for housing development.
It said it’s engaging with the market to assess the appetite for an affordable housing scheme in Killarney.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Cronin said this is ridiculous, and if he was looking to buy affordable housing, he wouldn’t be holding his breath for this local authority to provide it.
He said the fact there’s a limited landbank shows the council is not very active in acquiring land.
He said the landbanks are there for a long time, so the council could at least sell the sites to young people who want to build a home.
Cllr Cronin said the situation of young people living with their parents and saving up, only to be outbid for houses, is rife.
He said the council has failed on every front, and should at least sell sites to people at affordable rates.
