It's going to take 29 years to clear the Dublin City Council housing list, latest figures show.
In 2020, 546 applicants have been housed but there are currently 16,159 applicants waiting to get a home.
If the same number of people were housed each year, it would take over 29 years to clear the list.
And there are a further 14,226 people on the council's transfer list. Dublin City Council is one of four local authorities in the capital, with each having their own housing list.
Almost 3,000 applicants have been waiting over 10 years to be housed and now calls are being made for Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien to take action.
Sinn Fein housing spokesman Daithi Doolan is calling on him to work with the council to make a difference.
He said: "The latest figures show that there are 16,159 applicants on Dublin City Council’s housing list. In January this year that number was 16,705. 546 applicants have been housed by Dublin City Council in 2020. This indicates that it will take 29 years to clear the housing list. This does not even include the 14,226 on the City Council’s transfer list. An increase of 1,542 since January this year. This shocking and it is unacceptable.
“More revealing is the fact that 2,960 applicants have already been waiting over 10 years on the housing list. This clearly shows we need a radical step change in Government policy if Dublin City Council is to seriously tackle the ongoing housing crisis. Consecutive Governments have failed the people of Dublin. The ongoing dependency on the private market must end. We need immediate and decisive Government action.
“Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien needs to read this report and fully engage with Dublin City Council to ensure we have the funding necessary to build council, affordable to rent and affordable to buy homes. We also need to streamline the public procurement process. It is no longer fit for purpose. Housing plans are getting bogged down in red tape. That is simply not good enough at a time of crisis.
“Dublin has the land, the plans and the ambition. This was proved by this week’s vote on the Oscar Traynor site. We now need the Minister for Housing to work with us in partnership to deliver the housing so badly needed in Dublin.”
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