Funding gaps impact disability housing as Louth house prices rise

The average price of a newly built house in Louth is almost €400,000, with disability services that provide residential services unable to get funds to purchase the houses they need, Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú has told the Dáil.

In a debate last week about housing, the Sinn Féin TD said the average price for a new build in Louth is €385,000 – the average price for a second-hand house in the county is €321,911, an increase of over 50% since before Covid 19.

Constituents, he said, are telling him that it’s not even the price of rent that is most urgent, it is the fact there is nowhere available to rent.

He said: “Nothing presented by Government is anywhere close to a solution. We all know the issues with homelessness. We know when we are dealing with local authorities that they are under far more pressure than previously and solutions that were available to them are no longer available.

“That even relates to what capacity was in the market. At this point we know that tenant in situ has been cut to bits. It was one of the few solutions there that was in operation.”

The Dundalk TD also raised the issue of disability housing.

He said: “I have been contacted by the likes of St. John of God's about its approved housing body, which had three properties between counties Louth and Meath, which it was about to purchase under the capital assistance scheme.

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“Now, they cannot because that scheme's funding has been put into the same block as tenant in situ and so on, and local authorities are saying they do not have the money and cannot do what they did previously.

“We are talking about a lot of residents with disabilities and challenges but what is the solution? Are we going to put them back into congregated settings? The whole idea was delivering de-congregated settings.

“Once again, not only was the tenant in situ solution removed, but the Government has also created a huge issue with disability housing. I expect that to be addressed, whatever about these other issues and the constant failings we are dealing with”.