33 new social housing units announced for edenderry

Almost €6 million euro has been allocated to provide 33 social housing units in Blundell Wood, Edenderry.

The project is one of over 100 nationwide announced by Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly and Minister for State for Housing, Planning and Construction, Paudie Coffey today.

The move is part of the first phase of direct-build under the Government’s social housing strategy. €312 million has been approved by the Ministers which will see an additional 1,700 social housing units come on stream by 2017 with an estimated 3,000 additional jobs in construction created. The Blundell Wood development has been allocated €5.8 million.

These projects have been subjected to a value-for-money review by officials at the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and represent the first phase of direct build under the social housing strategy.

Local authorities submitted applications for direct building programmes with approval being granted to over 100 projects in just two months. Further assessments will be carried out throughout the rest of the year with some projects requiring planning approval. All will be completed by 2017.

Minister Kelly described it as “the first major investment in local authority housing for many years. This announcement will see over 1,700 housing units delivered over a three year period, creating approximately 3,000 jobs in construction with all of these projects being assessed in under a two month period. It represents a good start but with much more needing to be done.'