A local councillor says Tipperary Town’s housing crisis has never “been as bad”.
Cllr Mary Hanna Hourigan, who was Chair of the Housing for three years, told Tipp Today that 14 families are currently homeless in Tipp Town, despite many houses sitting empty in town.
She says when a 2 bedroom house in Aherlow Meadows became available recently, it recieved 59 bids on a choice-based letting, but still hasn’t been allocated.
The Fine Gael councillor says that children are suffering the most and believes there will be devastating long-term effects to this for them:
“We can all identify the empty homes. I have raised this with the Chief Executive, and it has fallen on deaf ears. I mean, you think of young children and I’ve watched them in hostels doing their homework. I’ve seen them in cars. People are sleeping in cars with children in Tipperary, right here in this district, in this town. It’s alive and well, and it’s very, very sad.
“I just feel for those children because what chance do they have when you’re talking about school in September, homework, a structure? Children may be in families split up, maybe two kids here, one child with a granny, all over the place. No proper family structure. And we’re going to pay for it in the long-run, that’s the problem. We’re going to have mental health issues, it’s going to cost us. So, really, I know the Government say there are doing loads, but they’re not doing enough.”
