Galway city has the highest social housing need in the country, a stark new report has revealed.

The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) estimates that 11.8% of all households in the Galway City Council area had an ‘ongoing need’, the highest percentage share in Ireland.

It also has the largest proportion of people with an ongoing need for permanent, state-supported housing at 8.7% — ahead of Dublin City Council where the figure is 7.2%.

Neighbouring Roscommon has the lowest percentage of households at 2.7%. County Galway was eighth lowest at 4%.

‘Ongoing Need’ records the number of households eligible for — but not yet in receipt of — social housing. It quantifies the number of households on the social housing waiting lists plus households in receipt of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP).

HAP tenants are not considered tenants of a local authority and do not have a continuous right to accommodation if their private lease agreement were to end.

Once they enter the HAP scheme, the applicant is removed from the main social housing waiting list and as a result is not deemed to have a social housing need.

The new figures have prompted four local charities — Galway Simon Community, COPE Galway, Threshold and No. 4 Youth Service — to unite in a call on Government and Galway City Council to urgently increase the city’s social housing supply.

“The report highlights a dire situation where nearly one in eight households in Galway City is eligible for social housing but it is not being provided. To address this severe shortfall, the report indicates that a 97% increase in social housing stock—almost doubling the current supply — is required,” they said in a statement.

Pictured: Cope Galway, headed by Michael Smyth, is one of four local charities that are calling on the government to urgently increase the city’s social housing supply.