Councillor slams ‘piecemeal’ housing approach in Limerick

LABOUR councillor Joe Leddin has called for a complete review of the local authority’s housing programme.

It comes after it emerged that Limerick Council spent €65m buying various houses to give to its tenants.

Now, City West member Cllr Leddin says the policy of purchasing these houses does not and never will work.

“Building houses in small to medium well-designed new estates is far better than the crude piecemeal approach currently adopted,” he said, “Of the 780 houses to be delivered by the council in 2019 a total of 641 will be acquired through purchasing or leasing houses in private housing estates. According to these figures the Council will only build 139 houses during the year despite the availability of multiple council owned sites throughout the city.”

He described the purchase of houses as “flawed” for many reasons.​

“The council is directly competing against first time buyers who wish to acquire a starter home while buying private houses does not create a single job for those in the construction sector.  The latest figures from the Department of Housing show that one in five houses are now bought by Councils who outbid first time buyers, while it is cheaper to build new houses rather than purchase houses. In addition, it is estimated that up to 40% of the cost in building new houses is recouped by the state through income tax, vat etc,” he added.

“​Limerick City and County Council have approximately twenty-five sites around the city that are zoned for residential development however little or no progress is being made in bringing forward designs for the building of new homes,” he added, pointing out the success of the Tait Clothing Factory in delivering homes. Council has been approached for comment.