Tipperary councillors have described the housing crisis in the county as ’emotionally draining.’
A number of issues from homelessness, to housing supply, to construction costs were raised at this month’s meeting of the council.
Director of Services Sinead Carr told councillors that dealing with housing and homelessness was always ‘stressful’ and ‘challenging.’
This came on the back of comments by a number of councillors that they were emotionally drained and out of ideas when it came to constituents who were facing homelessness.
They were told that there is a lack of supply across the board with many private landlords pulling out of the market thus amplifying the problem.
An argument broke out between Councillor John Crosse and Cathaoirleach Marie Murphy when he suggested that the bond of a development in Tipperary Town should be immediately reduced to help the developer and see more houses come on stream, something Murphy rejected.
Councillor Crosse was told by the chief executive that this would not fix the problem, it was a planning matter, and this was an inappropriate time for such a conversation.
Carr reassured councillors that they have always exceeded their social housing targets, and that they were now focusing on homelessness prevention.
However, she did accept that this was an emotional area and there had to be changes at national level.
