FUNDING is urgently required from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to aloe the construction of extensions to Kerry County Council’s housing stock, a local councillor has said.
Cllr Michael Cahill said there is a chronic issue with overcrowding in a number of local authority houses in Kerry and it cannot be allowed continue any longer.
“There is no doubt that this issue has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 lockdown but it has been a major problem for a number of years and it needs to be dealt with now,” he said.
“Families are living in houses built for a half or a quarter of the number of people now expected to exist there,” he added.
Cllr Cahill said with students and children currently home schooling and parents working from home, people are living in overcrowded conditions 24 hours a day which is having a severe impact on their mental and physical health.
“The department must take this into account and provide increased funding to deal with this extremely serious issue as a matter of urgency,” he stated.
Kerry County Council has agreed to write to the Minister for Housing and the Department seeking additional funding to address the overcrowding issue.
