Affordable Housing breakthrough for Co Longford

Longford/Westmeath Fianna Fáil general election candidate Joe Flaherty has expressed his desire to fill the vacancy on Longford County Council following Cllr Padraig Loughrey's resignation.

placeholder image — Longford/Westmeath Fianna Fáil general election candidate Joe Flaherty has expressed his desire to fill the vacancy on Longford County Council following Cllr Padraig Loughrey's resignation.

Council invited to make a submission for Longford town

Joe Flaherty TD has confirmed that the Dept of Housing has invited Longford Co Council to formally submit their proposals for an affordable housing scheme in Longford town.

Last year, there were concerns that Co Longford was one of 13 local authorities that would be excluded from the new programme.

However at a recent housing committee in Dáil Eireann, Eddie Taaffe, who is the Programme Coordinator with the Housing Delivery team, confirmed that Longford Co Council has been invited to submit their proposals for an affordable housing scheme in Longford town.

The breakthrough came after extensive representation from Deputy Flaherty, who said: “This is one of the key issues for the growth of Longford town and the recalibration of the housing market locally.

“Initially Longford looked set to be excluded as the Department assessed the affordability need on a county wide basis and were insisting that only counties where more than 5% of households were facing an affordability constraint, would be considered.”

However the Longford TD said that the countywide approach failed to appreciate that house prices are increasing much faster in Longford town. The Dept has now asked Longford Co Council to bring forward an affordable housing proposal for Longford town.

Responding to Deputy Flaherty at the recent housing committee meeting, Mr Taaffe said: “We are working with those local authorities where the average price for the county hasn’t reflected high property prices for a town in the county but the local authority are aware that they have local affordability issues in this town.

“We are working with local authorities like that to do a town or area specific HNDA (Housing Needs Demand Analysis) which will allow them qualify.”

The Housing Delivery unit has formally written to Longford Co Council and invited them to make their submission for Longford town.

Deputy Flaherty said: “I am confident that the local authority will make a successful case and would urge them to pursue this without delay.