AFFORDABLE HOUSING SCHEME FOR MONAGHAN IN PROSPECT – BUT PUBLIC’S VIEWS WILL BE VITAL

The vital need for the Co Monaghan public to make known their level of interest in having an Affordable Housing Scheme operative in the county was emphasised at Monday’s meeting of Monaghan Co Council. The Council are commencing the process of developing the scheme, with the first step a public survey to ascertain the level of potential interest. “The Council will use the information gathered in this survey to inform targeted development of future Affordable Housing Schemes in Co Monaghan,”

Acting Director of Housing Services Olga McConnon told Monday’s meeting. Emphasising the importance of the survey, Ms Mc- Connon said the Council needed to know if there was an interest among the public in affordable housing. “There are strict criteria and the calculation around eligibility is complex,” she noted. “It is a risk for the Council to engage in an Affordable Housing Scheme and we do not want to build a scheme that does not attract sufficient uptake.” Sinn Féin’s Noel Keelan welcomed the fact that some progress towards introducing a scheme in the county had been made.

Also welcoming the progress, Colm Carthy (Sinn Féin) thought the Council also needed to introduce affordable rental initiatives. “Rents have increased exponentially in South Monaghan over the last few years,” Councillor Carthy pointed out. Ms McConnon said the Council would look at an affordable rental scheme…