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| Finglas - Cabra Candidates Brendan Carr, Cllr John Redmond with John Lyons TD in Finglas |
Along with Finglas-Cabra local election candidates Brendan Carr and Cllr John Redmond, I warmly welcomed the funding announcement of €3.2 million to bring 135 long-term vacant Dublin City Council homes back up to scratch and made available to families on the housing list.
Finglas Cllr John Redmond congratulated Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan on this positive scheme for the Finglas area.
"I’ve lived in Finglas for 41 years with my family and boarded up houses have caused many issues for the local community over the years.
I know from my work with several residents associations that empty Council homes attract anti-social behaviour, especially when they’re left empty for months on end.
I worked to get the Choice Based Lettings scheme off the ground several years ago. This was a pilot in the Finglas area which offered empty homes in low-demand areas to people waiting on the housing list. It has made a big difference to local estates which previously had long-term vacant homes.
Today’s announcement will mean 135 long-term vacant houses will be brought into the housing stock very soon, which will be a great relief to neighbours beside these homes, as well as families who are on the housing list.”
I also stressed the benefits for Dublin and the country as a whole.
"As someone who meets people on the housing list every week, I know how frustrating boarded up houses are when you’re waiting to be housed. Some of those houses stay that way for months which has a knock on to the whole estate.
Overall Labour Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan is allocating €15m to make 932 local authority homes around the country available to families on the housing list. This is much needed for anyone in the area waiting on a housing list.
We need to invest more in social housing to tackle the huge problems at the moment. My Labour colleagues and I will continue to push for more investment in social housing, as well as practical schemes like the one announced today."
My partner was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two years ago and had to leave his job as an oil pipe fitter of 9 years as it was a physical job and to dangerous for him to continue in that profession. He needed to retrain and chose IT but wasn't allowed on any course until he had been unemployed for a year, which for a man who had only ever previously been unemployed for six months of his life was sole destroying especially as he was coming to terms with a life long chronic illness. For the last year he went to college and did extremely well in the two courses he completed and got a job before the last course had finished so he was working and going to college 7 days a week. We applied for fis as he is bringing home 400e a week, the rent for a house that is Un fit to live in as it has black nasty damp in all but one room of the house is 250e a week the cheapest we could find we cannot afford to move as that would mean at least 300e private rent a week and we are 106 on the housing list for Ballymun. So deduct the rent the travel to work food for 5 of us and bills out of 400e and you can quite simply see it is not possible. Fis received our application on the 8th April, on the 28th I phoned and they said it will be 3 weeks till we hear from them. I called today and they said it will be 2/3 weeks till we hear from them. Can you please tell me what do we do? Do we buy food and pay bills and loose our house or do we pay rent and go without food and paying the bills? Where is the support and incentive for people to go back to work we would never of put our family in this position if we had known. We are living in complete poverty because my partner has gone back to work.
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