People Before Profit Councillor Adrienne Wallace has called a protest this Tuesday, 9th June, outside the entrance to the housing estate Foran’s Way, in Tullow Co. Carlow at 6p.m.
This is following the news that 22 of the 48 homes built there will now be transferred for private sale and not social homes as was intended. The houses were built by Wexford developer BHA Construction and were due to be managed by the Approved Housing Body, Co-operative Housing Ireland.
Cllr Wallace said “This is an incredulous turn of events and raises a lot of serious questions. Firstly, how can the developer be allowed to make such extreme changes? Is there not a contract in place that ensures commitments are adhered to? According to the local authority the change has come about due to rising costs, however, inflation is not a new phenomenon and surely any diligent developer would include such costs in their estimates?”
She continued “Although we are in globally turbulent times, I do not believe that the war in Iran cannot be cited as a significant factor here. These houses were due to be allocated in March, the war in Iran did not start until the end of February. Therefore, the majority of the works were likely completed before it could have had an impact on costs. We must make sure that developers are not attempting to profit from these crises and any evidence of significant cost increases should be provided to elected members.”
She added, “This is a clear example of homes being built for greed not need, as some of the houses will now go on the market for €300,000-€400,000, making them unaffordable for many. The sad reality is that those who were hoping for an allocation of these houses are most likely the most vulnerable, living with medical issues or in already over-crowded houses.”
Cllr Wallace concluded “This also brings into question the credibility of the Government’s social housing delivery model. We cannot continue to allow private developers to supply social and affordable housing as they clearly cannot be trusted to deliver and I am calling on the Housing Minister James Browne to intervene in this matter."
"Ultimately, we need to return to the days where County Councils were given enough resources to build homes directly. The people in Tullow should not accept this decision by BHI, they have waited long enough for their forever homes and I expect they are willing to come out and fight for their rights to housing.”