It is difficult to understand how several towns in Cork have affordable housing schemes completed yet Killarney has nothing, a meeting of the Killarney Municipal District Council has heard.
Cllr Brendan Cronin asked officials to explain how that has been allowed to happen and he said people seeking affordable housing in the town have absolutely no chance.
The cost of homes has increased dramatically, the price is beyond their reach and they are earning over the limit to qualify for social housing so they are left stranded, the meeting heard.
Cllr Niall Kelleher said a doctor, a nurse or a teacher – or any combination of them – could not afford to buy a house in Killarney in the current market as there is unbelievable demand from young people.
“I don’t know if we are being listened to as public reps as there are no assurances being given. Developers are buying land so what is happening?” Cllr Kelleher asked.
He said he is aware that Cork County Council is providing affordable housing to Kerry people working in Cork while Kerry County Council is not.
Mayor Maura Healy-Rae said there was a hope when the new development was being built at Cronin’s Wood that there would be an affordable housing element included.
“Then the council rowed in and it is all to be social housing so that opportunity is gone,” she said.
Kerry County Council’s Housing Officer, Ger O’Brien, said the local authority spent long enough with a blank sheet on social housing but there is now movement on it.
“We know very well that there is a need for affordable housing. We are talking to developers and there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes,” he said.
The meeting heard that Kerry County Council’s housing department, together with its delivery partners, approved housing bodies and developers, are working to deliver housing targets in line with the Government’s Housing for All policy.
The council made an affordable housing submission to the department in October 2024 and will continue to explore opportunities for the delivery of affordable homes, initially in Tralee and Killarney on a case by case basis, in order to provide newly built homes, on an equity sharing basis, to eligible first-time and fresh-start buyers.
Any suitable projects identified will be submitted to the department for assessment under the Affordable Housing Fund.
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