TD: Decades to clear the housing list

By Daniel O'Neill

A northside TD has criticised the Government for their lack of response to the housing crisis on Leeside.

It comes as figures revealed that there were 121,463 unique bids for 595 properties advertised on Cork City Council’s Choice Based Lettings (CBL) website.

These figures were released to Thomas Gould, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, after he submitted a Freedom of Information request.

Deputy Gould said: “121,463 bids were made by families and individuals for just 595 homes, over 100,000 times an individual or family placed all their hope into a bid. Only 0.5% of these bids resulted in a housing offer.”

He said the numbers on the housing list reduced only by 100 families and individuals since last year adding that many of these people now earn too much for the list or have passed on or found housing outside of Cork.

CBL is a way that you can express your interest in renting a suitable council property in your preferred area.

A 'suitable' property is one that you have chosen to express interest in and that matches your housing needs.

Deputy Gould said: “At this pace, it will take over three decades to clear the housing list. For every house on the CBL last year, over 200 families and individuals placed a bid. These are families living in cramped accommodation, facing eviction or living in emergency accommodation. They are mothers and fathers who share box rooms with their children.”

He said 11,355 couples and individuals placed a bid on 21 one-bedroom properties that were advertised on the CBL last year.

He also said there were 93 three-bedroom homes with 42,500 bids on them. “For every three-bedroom advertised, 457 families placed a bid and imagined their future in these homes.”

“Cork City Council perform well compared to other local authorities but the targets they’ve been given are too low and the pro-developer policies by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael don’t truly support them,” he concluded.