‘Horrifying’ housing crisis hits new heights

The housing rental crisis has scaled new heights in Offaly, with several houses now hitting the €1,000 a month price range among the low numbers on offer.

Just 19 properties were available for rent in Offaly at the time of going to press (Thursday last) across the county, according to housing website Daft.ie. 

Of those, only 12 units were available in Tullamore and the majority of those are 3-beds units going for between €925 - €950 per month, while two-bed apartments are fetching up to €700 a month.

Only two four-bed homes were available for rent, one in Tullamore's Arden Road at €1,500, and the other in Clara at €1,100 per month. 

Richard Cleary of Property Partners says rents in Tullamore increased by a minimum of 15% in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, in Edenderry, there were no houses at all for rent.

Cllr Noel Cribbin says the crisis is 'horrifying'.

'As I speak to you I am in the council's housing department trying to sort something out for a young single mother who is facing living in a car with her child, or going to the homeless shelter for women in Mullingar come October. The owner of the house is returning from Australia in October, and there are no other options open to her, there is absolutely nowhere for her to rent,' says Cllr Noel Cribbin.

'There is a severe shortage of both social and private housing and not only in Edenderry, all over the county,' he says.

While Cllr Cribbin explains that Offaly County Council have given the go-ahead to build 33 new social houses at Blundell Wood, it could be another two to three years before construction is complete and families can move in.

'We can't wait two or three years, something has to be done in the meantime. No developers are building anything, and even if they were, by the time it got through planning to the point where you can actually turn a key in a home, it would take years. The only way out of this is for government to give us the funds to buy more social housing. The local authority are doing their damndest to find houses for people, but they just aren't there.'