New figures have revealed that more than 10,000 households in South Dublin are in need of council housing.

The figures, which were revealed at a meeting of Dublin County Council on 09 April, show that 7,633 households are on the standard Housing List; 2,470 are on the Homeless List, Medical List and HAP Transfer List; and 105 are on the RAS Fixed Transfer List.

Sinn Féin TD for Dublin Mid West, Eoin Ó Broin, said: "South Dublin County Council is nowhere close to tackling its social housing crisis. Its targets are too low. Funding from central government is not enough. Unless there is a radical shift in the scale and ambition of the Councils housing programme things will unfortunately get worse."

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South Dublin County Council introduced the Choice Based Letting (CBL) scheme in October 2011, the first allocation under the scheme being on 08 November 2011. To date 582 allocations have been made under CBL. 

The time spent on the Council's waiting list for successful applicants varies depending on the size of property. Applicants wanting a one-bedroom would have to wait, on average, nine years, while those waiting for a four-bedroom would wait 10 years.

Deputy Ó Broin continued: "This is the highest level of social housing need since the start of the recession and demonstrates that the Government's Rebuilding Ireland housing plan is not working."

"South Dublin County Council will receive funding from the Department of Housing to build and buy up to 3,000 council houses from 2018 to 2021. Some of these will be developed in partnership with Approved Housing Bodies."

"On the basis of current trends housing need will continue to rise year on year from now to 2021. This means that the Council's new social housing programme will barely meet the rising housing need let alone tackle the deep level of existing need."

(CM/MH)