Cost of Ongoing Need for accommodation in Laois/Offaly hits €742.5million

Independent TD Carol Nolan has highlighted the scale of the current and future housing emergency in Laois and Offaly after an analysis by the Oireachtas Parliamentary Budget Office on the number of households eligible for, but not yet in receipt of, social housing estimated the combined costs for both counties as €742.5 million for both counties.

The PBO analysis based the costs on what it would take to house the number of households on the social housing waiting lists plus households in receipt of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP).

For the Offaly County Council lists the overall costs is put at €338,360,562, while for Laois County Council the cost is €404,159,521:

“The data released today by the PBO is breathtaking in terms of the magnitude of the emergency we are facing,” said Deputy Nolan.

“The PBO itself now estimates that there were 115,425 households nationwide with an ‘ongoing need’ for permanent, state-supported housing at the end of 2023 which will cost approximately €34.95 billion to build.”

“Alarmingly the PBO also estimates that at end-2023 there was a minimum of 235,659 people (4.4% of the total population) making up the households with an ongoing need including an estimated 92,116 dependent children.”

“It is absolutely clear that we are a critical juncture in terms of housing and accommodation and unless new and innovative solutions are implemented immediately the crisis will continue to get worse.”

“We have already seen this week how population levels are outstripping supply by a ratio of 4 to 1. That combined with a decades old and dysfunctional planning system mired in bureaucratic redtape is destroying the capacity of entire generations to on their own home or even access a roof over their head,” Deputy Nolan concluded.