The Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) welcome today’s publication of the Housing Land Map, which identifies sites available for housing in local authority ownership totaling 1,700 hectares as well as key urban sites in semi-state ownership amounting to 700 hectares.
Commenting on Minister Coveney’s launch today, Kathleen McKillion, ICSH Director of Operations, said: “The ICSH welcome the Minister’s call today for local authorities to present development plans by September 2017 for more than 2,000 hectares of public and semi-state land. These sites present an opportunity for housing associations across the county to work in partnership with local authorities and private sector developers to build affordable homes. Four new mixed tenure developments, with a commitment to at least 30% social housing, have already been brought to the market by South Dublin County Council at Kilcarbery, Dublin 22 and by Dublin City Council in Infirmary Road Dublin 7, Oscar Traynor Road Dublin 9 and Emmet Road Dublin 8.”
Ms McKillion added: “We’ve been calling for the Government to embed an active land management strategy into the housing system to ensure a continuous pipeline of building land for social housing. The publication of the Housing Land Map means the Government now have the tools to do this. And this is part of a long-term vision; we expect this to inform the evidence based planning that is much needed to deliver on the Ireland 2040 National Planning Framework”.
ENDS
Contact: Ken Reid, Information and Communications Coordinator, Irish Council for Social Housing
Tel: 01 6618334
Email: kenreid@icsh.ie
Editors Notes:
1. The Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) is the national federation for non-profit housing associations, representing approximately 270 members that provide social housing. The sector manages over 30,000 homes for families on a low income, older people, people with disabilities and homeless households. Housing Associations are non-profit organisations that provide and manage good-quality housing at affordable rents for households in housing need. The sector has been working in partnership with private sector developers to create mixed tenure housing, and has been very successful in contributing private finance to build sustainable housing communities. Housing associations have the added value of providing long term tenancies, giving security of tenure to low income families and providing housing as well as supports to the elderly and people with disabilities in towns and villages across Ireland. Further information is available at www.icsh.ie, or by following the ICSH on Twitter, @icsh_ie.
