Sinn Féin TD for Wicklow, John Brady has today slammed the government for failing to properly resource stock audits in local authority provided housing in Wicklow.
His comments come as figures released to Sinn Féin spokesperson on Urban Regeneration & Renewal, Public Realm & Local Government, Thomas Gould TD, show that only 360 social homes in Wicklow have been audited since 2022.
Teachta Brady said:
“In November 2021, Sinn Féin was told that stock audits would be undertaken on all social housing units in the following four to five years. Yesterday, we were told that stock audits would be undertaken on all social housing units in the following four to five years. The timeline keeps being pushed out while people in Wicklow are forced to live in mouldy, damp homes.
“At the government’s pace, it will now take 57 years to complete these stock audits in Wicklow. There are 5321 social homes in Wicklow and they have only completed 360 audits in the last 4 years. That is completely unacceptable.
“What is even more concerning is that no additional funding has been provided for the maintenance issues that are found through these stock surveys. People are living in mouldy, damp and cold homes in Wicklow. They don’t need someone to just find a list of the problems, they need funding to repair their homes.
“The figures bear out what has become depressingly familiar to us in my constituency office. For years, we have been working with families across Wicklow whose homes are in desperate need of maintenance.
“The longstanding issues with housing maintenance in Wicklow will not be solved by stock surveys, but they must be a step forward.
“The Minister must ramp up the completion of these surveys and clearly set out what funding he will provide to complete the work identified by the audits.”
ENDS