Skip to main content

NAMA Not Housing Poor People...

NAMA under fire for failing to help house poor people.

ENVIRONMENT Minister Phil Hogan is embroiled in a row with NAMA over whether the agency is doing enough to house poor people.

The minister said he was unhappy with the toxic assets agency for not selling properties under its control at a discount to his department.

These could then be used to house those on council housing waiting lists.

But the department was unable yesterday to identify specific areas in need of social housing where NAMA had a stockpile of suitable properties.

And NAMA has no specific legal obligation to help to resolve the social housing problem.

The law setting up the agency says that one of its purposes is "to contribute to the social and economic development of the State".

But there is no mention about handing over specific numbers of properties for social housing.

So far just 58 apartments in the Beacon South Quarter, Sandyford, which had been in NAMA, have been purchased by a voluntary housing group at a discounted rate for social and affordable housing.

Mr Hogan said NAMA was more interested in making a profit on large-scale developments rather than fulfilling the "social dividend" set down in its business plan.

"We have spoken to them but with very little success," said Mr Hogan, who was speaking at the National Housing Conference in Dublin Castle yesterday.

"The Minister for Finance and the Government generally will have to engage with the view to getting a better outcome.

"We are finding it very difficult to get sufficient properties for people on the housing list."

Priority

Mr Hogan said that " thousands and thousands" of extra people had joined this list.

But last night a NAMA spokesman told the Irish Independent that promoting social housing was a key priority for the agency and that it was working "very closely" with the department in this regard.

There are about 100,000 households on the local authority housing waiting list, up from 58,000 in 2008.

Those who get social housing pay a fixed rent to a local authority -- which then takes responsibility for the maintenance of the property.

Report by Treacy Hogan - Irish Independent

Popular posts from this blog

Ireland's Celtic Tiger Excesses...

'Bang twins' may never get to run a business again... POST-boom Ireland is awash with cautionary tales of Celtic Tiger excesses, as a rattle around the carcasses of fallen property developers and entrepreneurs will show. Few can compete with the so-called Bang twins for youth, glamour and tasteful extravagance. Simon and Christian Stokes, the 35-year-old identical twins behind Bang Cafe and exclusive private members club, Residence, saw their entire business go bust with debts of €9m, €3m of which is owed to the tax man. The debt may be in the ha'penny place compared with the eye-watering billions owed by some of their former customers. But their fall has been arguably steeper and more damning than some of the country's richest tycoons. Last week, further humiliation was heaped on them with revelations that even as their businesses were going under, the twins spent €146,000 of company money in 18 months on designer shopping sprees, five star holidays and sumptu

I fear a very different kind of property crash

While 80% of people over 40 own their own home just a third of adults under 40 do. This is disastrous for social solidarity and cohesion Changing this system of policymaking requires a government to act in a way that may be uncomfortable for some. Governments have a horizon of no more than five years, and the housing issue requires long-term planning. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was intended to tackle some of these problems. According to its website its remit is to “drive the delivery of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the people of Ireland by enhancing governance, building capacity and delivering effectively”. So how is the challenge of delivering homes for people in 2024 and beyond going to be met? The extent of the problem is visible in the move by companies, including Ryanair, to buy properties to house staff. Ryanair has, justifiably, defended its right to do so. IPAV has long articulated its views on how to improve supply an

Property Tycoon's Dolce Vita Ends...

Tycoon's dolce vita ends as art seized... THE Dublin city sheriff has seized an art collection and other valuables from the Ailesbury Road home of fallen property developer Bernard McNamara. The collection will be sold to help pay his debts. The sheriff, Brendan Walsh, is believed to have moved against the property developer within the past fortnight, calling to his salubrious Dublin 4 home acting on a court order to seize anything of value from his home to reimburse his creditors. The sheriff is believed to have taken paintings from the family home along with a small number of other items. The development marks a new low for Mr McNamara, once one of Ireland's richest men but who now owes €1.5bn . The property developer and former county councillor from Clare turned the building firm founded by his father Michael into one of the biggest in Ireland. He is the highest-profile former tycoon to date to be targeted by bailiffs, signalling just how far some of Ireland's billionai