Thousands of council homes in Dublin could be demolished as part of a proposal to reinvigorate the city’s housing stock.
The Central Statistics Office has predicted that 400,000 people will be living in the capital by 2030, with politicians, business leaders, and academics calling for increased housing density between the city’s canals.
Dublin city council has developed a multibillion-euro plan that would include knocking down many of the local authority’s 12,000 apartments, according to the Sunday Business Post. Many of the buildings included in the plan are in poor condition while others are derelict. The proposals intend to quadruple the density in some parts of the city.
Brendan Kenny, deputy chief executive of the council, said that fundamental changes were needed on the city’s housing stock.
“We believe that a more radical approach is required, including the possibility of widespread demolition and new build to modern standards, gaining much greater density on several strategic locations in the city,” he said.
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Mr Kenny also said that the council was open to attracting private funding into public schemes that would help the council to build in tranches of 1,000 units at once.
The new developments are expected to be a mix of private and social housing. Mr Kenny said that he was hopeful of bringing proposals to councillors before the end of this year.
“With the major emphasis in the coming years on new supply, it may be difficult to source direct government funding for large-scale regeneration projects, therefore we will certainly consider other possible options including the private sector or through the European Investment Bank,” he said.
The low supply of new homes entering the market in the city has led to house prices increasing by €2,000 per month over the past year, while rents have surged to 15.4 per cent higher than their pre-crash peak.
New supply is needed in both the private and social housing sectors. About 91,600 people are on the waiting list for council houses, three times the number of 1996, according to Tasc, an independent think tank, including 19,811 in Dublin city.
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The level of home ownership slipped to its lowest level since 1971, while the number in emergency accommodation rose by 20 per cent. The number of homeless families in Dublin almost quadrupled to 1,055 between July 2014 and December 2015.