In a statement this morning, Richard Boyd Barrett TD, slammed the government on their latest social housing statement which is totally bogus and just a repeat of last years announcement of the same investment.

An allocation of €1.5 billion is precisely what the Minister announced in the Social Housing Strategy 2020 document in November 2014 and at least three quarters of this money will be spent on reclassifying those in private rented accommodation as having had their “housing need met” while they remain in private rented accommodation under the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP).

Deputy Boyd Barrett said: “This latest announcement is totally bogus and is just more smoke and mirrors. Minister Kelly has now announced this figure of investment 3 times and we have seen no alleviation of the problem for those waiting for housing.

“In a recent letter to one of our People Before Profit councillors, Minister Kelly admitted that of the 15,800 social housing units promised in 2015, over 12,000 will be a continuation of renting from private landlords, where tenants will stay exactly where they are but be “deemed to have had their housing needs met”

“This is not a response to the housing crisis – this is just recycled news and is an accountancy trick. The statement also includes very spurious figures where it claims that 681 units would house 20% of the Dun Laoghaire list – when the latest figures show there are 5280 families on that list.”

Originally posted on richardboydbarrett.ie.