Up to sixty new housing units are to be built in Shannon.
It comes as part of an announcement from Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Simon Coveney who on Thursday unveiled plans for the construction of 450 new social housing units across the country through a public private partnership (PPP) programme.
Coveney commented “€100 million is being invested to deliver these new homes. We have a significant shortage of housing supply and need to use every feasible means to meet this challenge. PPP provides us with an effective mechanism to fund and deliver additional badly-needed social housing units.”
A statement revealed that the units would be built in Shannon East and The Clare Herald understands that the site will be located close to St Caimins Community School and opposite from the Cúl na Greine estate.
Fine Gael TD Pat Breen welcomed the news. “This is a really positive development for Clare people and families on the social housing list. The announcement comes as part of the Government’s comprehensive housing action plan, called ‘Rebuilding Ireland – an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness’. The plan delivers on a key commitment in the Programme for Government to prioritise solving the problem of the housing shortage that arose after the economic bust”.
He added “Fine Gael in Government is ensuring that our economic recovery benefits those who need it most, and I can think of no better case than people in need of housing. Everyone has the right to a place to call home. These new social housing units will give a lot of Clare people a great new start in life and a place to call their own.”
With the PPP model the State provides sites for PPP Projects (usually on licence/lease), which stay in the ownership of the State throughout. The developers also construct the housing units under a license to the State. PPP sites stay in the ownership of the State throughout – ownership of social housing units transfers to State after 25 years, with the expiry of the maintenance part of the contract.
The State makes an input to the PPP project by providing State land on licence/lease and by making a monthly ‘unitary payment’ for 25 years. This payment commences once construction is complete and covers the cost of the delivery and servicing of units. PPP projects take an estimated 37-48 months to deliver, in total.
Figures from Clare County Council show 3,100 people are on the social housing list in the County, with over 640 of those in the Shannon Municipal District.
Welcoming the announcement, Cllr. Bill Chambers, Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council said, “Clare County Council will do whatever is necessary to support the delivery of these proposed housing units in Shannon.”