Lack of social housing to meet demand in the Twin Towns is 'really disheartening'

Only seven social homes will come on stream in the Twin Towns this year to satisfy a waiting list of over 200.

These were just some of the issues raised in relation to the chronic shortage of housing in the area at January’s meeting of the Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District (MD).

Cllr Dakota NicMheanmain said it was ‘really disheartening’ and blamed Donegal County Council for a lack of forward planning, a claim strongly disputed by council staff.

She said there are currently 202 applicants who have Ballybofey/Stranorlar as their first preference.

“Yet all we have currently onsite/planned is eight units at the old fire station and there's seven units left (out of 14) to be completed at Coill an Airgid,” she said.

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The units at Coill an Airgid are due to be completed by April.

“It’s really disheartening as there is not enough social housing to meet demand in the Twin Towns,” Cllr NicMheanmain added.

“This is down to a lack of forward planning. We are trying to play catch up now and not thinking about the future, but the population is growing fast. We also have a Gaeltacht area in Glenfin too, but there are no housing units planned for there and that will affect the language.”

Cllr Patrick McGowan also claimed the council was taking ‘far too long’ to acquire land for housing.

“We could have an over supply of housing in some areas and not near enough in the Twin Towns,” he said. “That is a big problem, and there is very little happening (in Twin Towns) this year. The council is also taking far too long to acquire this land.”

However the council’s Senior Engineer, John Gallagher, explained there are a lot of constraints placed on them by the Housing Agency when it comes to the acquisition of land.

The Twin Towns is one of the largest Donegal towns and has one of the highest needs when it comes to housing,” he said.

“We are looking at housing at scale i.e. 50/100 units at a time. We have to meet certain criteria and have offers on land that could meet that demand. We are looking at another substantial site in the towns, but we have a lot of criteria that we must meet before purchasing lands.”

Mr Gallagher pointed out that the tender process has been successful for the construction of a small number of units at the old Fire Station in Stranorlar. The purchase of land at Millbrae is also at conveyancing stage, and this is being carried out by the Housing Agency on behalf of the council.

In addition, Patsy Lafferty, Director of Housing said there were a number of recent high-profile projects announced in Lifford and Convoy.

“But, there is a significant amount of work going on behind the scenes in the Twin Towns in relation to land purchases,” he said.

“The demand will be satisfied in the medium term and there will be significant development. It’s only when you see diggers on site that you get confidence”.