As of August 2013 there are close to 2,000 people on the waiting list for Social housing in the Swords area alone. In
the whole of Fingal there are 10,000 on the list. The waiting time for from the time you put your name on the list until you
get a house is up to 8 years.
Somebody who applies for social housing in Swords may not be actually
given a property in Swords but may be offered a house in Balbriggan or Blanchardstown for example. And just because you were
born and reared in an area doesn't give you the right to be housed in that area.
Say for example
you have been waiting a number of years for a house from the council and you have two children, you rise up the ladder to
the top of the list, then someone from Latvia comes along with 4 children. Well the way the council looks at this is that
the person from Latvia is in greater need than you are and skips you and gets a house before you. Then you rise up the list
again but the very same situation may happen again.
Only In Ireland I hear you say ?
With
2,000 people on the list in Swords and with the government funding a total of 18 social houses in 2013 for the whole of Fingal
it will take about 140 years to clear the list.
The council's policy of simply building houses
for the locals is long gone. No longer do Fingal Council build housing estates for those on the waiting list but prefer to
give €800 per month to private landlords for each house. When the council did build the council houses they made money
on rent from their tenants. This made the council a profit and the money was simple used to build more homes as they were
needed. It was a simple solution that worked for 100 years or more.
Alas there are vested interests
involved in the private sector who are also involved with local councils who would loose a lot of money if ever a county
council went back to simply building houses for those in need of them. Have you ever wondered why the councils stopped people
putting caravans in the back gardens or allowed caravan parks to provide temporary accommodation ? Well again it's those with
a vested interest who wouldn't make money from these simple solutions.
