Sligo County Council says building new houses is not the only way to solve the housing crisis.
The Executive says bringing vacant Council houses back into use is a faster way to house people and has been their focus but efforts continue to buy and build new houses where possible.
The Council has confirmed there are now 612 people in the county in need of social housing with a further 300 people on the transfer list to be housed elsewhere.
Efforts are continuing to solve the social housing issue right around the county.
A report outlined to Councillors at the Municipal District meeting in Sligo today heard that €2.5m has been invested in approved housing between 2015 and 2017.
Independent socialist Councillor Declan Bree said the only solution is a ‘massive’ house-building exercise’ – a call echoed by a number of Councillors.
Council CEO Ciaran Hayes said building new houses was not the only solution and he said Sligo is a county that is successfully bringing its vacant housing stock back into use.
However, he warned it’s a lengthy process.
He warned the private sector also needs to be active.
Speaking to Ocean FM, Director of Services Bartley Gavin echoed those comments stating that returning vacant units to use has been their big focus.
He says buying new houses is ideal slow but he says progress is much slower.
Nevertheless he gave Ocean FM News an update on the Council ‘new build’ projects like Fr. Flanagan Terrace, Knappagh road, Collooney and houses on the Rosses Point road:
