Hundreds more homes needed as Buncrana housing crisis turns ‘desperate’ - Donegal Daily

Buncrana may need as many as 700 additional homes to tackle a housing shortage described as increasingly desperate by local councillor Jack Murray.Social housin...

Buncrana may need as many as 700 additional homes to tackle a housing shortage described as increasingly desperate by local councillor Jack Murray.

Social housing construction and private developments are nowhere near the level needed to tackle Buncrana’s housing shortage amid the defective concrete crisis, the Sinn Féin councillor says.

Donegal County Council’s latest housing programme shows 92 social homes have either been delivered or are currently being developed in Buncrana since 2022.

Of those, 38 have been completed – 21 at Rockytown Phase 1, 16 at Crana Crescent and one handed over for allocation at The Meadows.

A further 54 homes are now under construction at Rockytown Phase 2, comprising 42 houses and 12 apartments.

Cllr Murray said the scheme is expected to be completed towards the end of the year, all going well.

But he believes Buncrana needs a much stronger and more urgent housing response, with more social, affordable and private homes, better use of vacant properties and planning policies that allow communities to grow.

“We are way below what we need," Cllr Murray told Donegal Daily .

“I would say we need 600-700 houses to get back to where we need to be."

Cllr Murray said housing is now the biggest issue in the area.

“I hear constantly from families - hardworking people - in Buncrana and across Inishowen who are doing everything they can, yet still cannot find a suitable and affordable place to live," he said.

He said the recent council construction followed a prolonged period when very little housing was being delivered.

“For years after the Celtic Tiger, nowhere near enough homes were built locally.

"While we have thankfully seen some very welcome social housing delivered in recent years, that came after the best part of a decade when virtually nothing was being built.

Donegal pop artist continues breakout year with moving new single

High-speed broadband rolled out to 1,900 customers in Donegal Town

Cllr Murray said rising rents are also leaving people caught between renting and home ownership.

“One of the most frustrating situations I see is people paying very high rent every month who could comfortably manage a mortgage repayment that may actually be lower.

"But because so much of their income goes on rent, saving the deposit needed to buy a home becomes almost impossible. They are caught in a trap."

He also pointed to construction costs, restrictive planning and the added pressure Donegal’s defective blocks crisis has placed on the local construction sector.

"Donegal's defective blocks crisis has to be recognised as an additional and exceptional pressure on our housing supply," he said.

Cllr Murray said the level of construction just across the border shows what could be achieved.

“We are given all these reasons why developments can’t be done, and then you drive into Derry and there are houses flying up everywhere - thousands of houses have gone up around the Whitehouse Roundabout in the last number of years.

Buncrana, he adds, needs an urgent increase in social, affordable and private housing to tackle the shortage.

“Behind every housing statistic is a person or family worried about where they are going to live," he said.

“This needs serious and sustained Government focus. Unless we dramatically increase the number of homes being built, improve affordability and make better use of the homes already there, we are never going to get close to meeting the housing needs of Buncrana and Donegal.