Four-bed social housing ‘hard to come across’

Director of Housing with Westmeath County Council has admitted that four-bed homes are “hard to come across” for families on the social housing list. In response to a question from Cllr Aengus O’Rourke at the September meeting, Jackie Finney said that, while the council was “trying to meet the need”, she said houses with four beds or more are scarce.

Cllr O’Rourke said he did not see anything in the latest housing report that could give “any hope” to tenants who need bigger houses.

“There are families out there whose children have additional needs, and if they want to move to a bigger house where are they going to get one if they are not being built?” he asked.

Cllr Ken Glynn said all 20 councillors had “long lists” of people seeking houses with four beds or more. “I can tell you there are few or no houses of that size coming on stream in Mullingar over the next 12-18 months.” He said there is “a growing trend” among Approved Housing Agencies and developers to three-bed homes, but urged the council to prioritise the construction of larger homes.

Ms Finney said the council do their best to meet needs, and said they are working on progressing any tenant-in-situ applications that come before them “as quickly as we can”.