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Galway Advertiser* Thursday, 16 October 2014 Page: 58
Cluid welcomes massive increase in social housing spend •
Housing agency Cluid has welcomed the €2.2 billion capital investment in social housing announced in the Budget this week. The agency, which has provided 256 homes in Galway, said this amounted to a trebling in capital funding for social housing. “We are absolutely delighted with this increase,” said Simon Brooke, head of policy at Cluid. “It will enable housing associations to provide over 2,000 new homes over the next three years. Between housing associations and local authorities the Government estimates that over 10,000new social
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rented homes will be provided by over 90 per cent.” Cluid estimates that at least 5,000 2017. “There are currently 90,000 new social homes are needed per households on housing waiting lists year to reduce housing waiting lists. “We will not get there today, but across the country,” Mr Brooks added. “Of these, we estimate that this new spending means that 30,000 households are living in housing associations and local authorities can start to build social seriously substandard housing.” Capital spending on social housing again,” he said. “Investment housing was €1.48billion in 2007,but in social housing is good for the by 2014 it had been cut by 85 per economy because it creates and increases cent. “Consequently, social house employment building has collapsed,” Mr Brooks economic activity, and at the same said. “In 2007,local authorities and time it meets a vitally important housing associations produced 8,700 social need.” new homes; by 2013 this had slumped to 757,a staggering drop of
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