HOUSING Minister Darragh O’Brien has welcomed figures from the Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA) which show a 38 per cent reduction in the Limerick social housing waiting list since 2016.
The latest figures show that 1,949 households in Limerick were assessed as being in need of social housing supports on November 17 last, a 6.3 per cent reduction from the 2,081 households recorded on November 2, 2020.
This figure also represents a 38 per cent decrease of 1,176 households since 2016 when annual recording of the SSHA began.
Nationally, 59,247 households were assessed as being qualified for social housing support on November 17, down by 4.3 per cent from 61,880 households on November 2, 2020. This figure is a 35.3 per cent reduction of 32,353 households since 2016.
Minister O’Brien also published the social housing statistics for the final quarter of 2021 which showed that 4,010 social homes were delivered in the three month period including 2,053 new build social homes, 810 acquisitions and 1,147 homes delivered through leasing programmes.
He said that, for a fifth consecutive year, the overall number of households on local authority waiting lists continued to decrease. 9,183 social housing solutions were found for people despite the significant impact which the Covid pandemic and subsequent construction sector shutdowns had on efforts.
“These results are evidence that Government investment in social housing supports is working for Limerick,” the Minister said.
“However, we must not, and will not, lose sight of the fact that there are still 1,949 households in Limerick who are relying on us for the provision of housing support.
“This year we will be investing more than €4billion to deliver 11,820 new social homes in 2022, including 9,000 new build social homes.
“As with all Departments, we are watching the situation in Ukraine closely. The Russian invasion is having significant impacts on all sectors of society and our goal is to provide shelter and accommodation for those fleeing war while continuing to deliver on our social housing commitments,” he added.
