Sinn Féin TD for Tipperary, Martin Browne TD has expressed concern after it was revealed that the Government has massively underspent its budget for social and affordable housing.
The figures were provided to party spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin TD, by the Department of Housing, confirming a €1B underspend in the capital budget for social and affordable housing from 2020 to 2023. The overall underspend was €1.5B but not all of this relates to housing.
Deputy Browne says the underspend is shocking at a time of rising homelessness and a deepening housing crisis. The Cashel based TD also says that the level of red tape and delay imposed on Local Authorities and Approved Housing bodies by the Department of Housing and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is the key problem in slow delivery. This in turn is responsible for the evidence of the housing crisis in the county in the form of few options to purchase new homes, high rents and people experiencing insecure housing and those experiencing homelessness according to Deputy Browne.
