Galway home rental scheme ‘on the verge of collapse’

 A Labour Party public representative has painted a bleak picture of the possible demise of the city’s Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) unless more central funding is allocated to social housing.

RAS is a partnership between Galway City Council and landlords whereby housing waiting list tenants are housed by the private sector.

City Councillor Nuala Nolan fears that, with rents rising in the city, and a predicted shortage of rented accommodation, RAS applicants will be ‘squeezed out’, as landlords shun the scheme and opt instead for the more lucrative open market where rents are higher.

In Dublin, there have been warnings that landlords are pulling out of RAS, to earn higher rents, which is worsening the housing crisis in the capital and adding to the homeless list.

Cllr Nolan, who is in the east ward, where much of the city’s RAS housing is situated, pointed to the crisis in Meath County Council also, where the housing department has ceased taking RAS tenant applications.

Cllr Nolan is predicting a similar ‘perfect storm’ here, as rents rise, landlords leave RAS and the housing crisis worsens.

Cllr Nolan said: “If you look at the figures in the draft annual budget for 2014, which was passed on December 20, in the section on housing you will find that as of September 30 there are 3,434 applicants on the Galway City Council housing list with the largest category on the list for financial reasons.

“For 2014 the Council hopes to sign up to 35 housing units under the RAS scheme and 40 under Long Term Leasing (LTL). That is just a total of 75 units. This means that unless the Council gets Government funding to build or buy houses we have a serious problem.”

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel