This article is from page 1 of the 2014-07-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 1 JPG
CLARE is facing a ticking timebomb with a dramatic increase in the size of the county’s social housing waiting list and reports of a number of people being made homeless be- cause their rent allowance is no longer enough to cover their rents.
According to figures obtained by The Clare People , the number of people on the social housing waiting list has grown from 2,312 in October of 2012 to 3,066 this month.
This represents an increase of more than 32 per cent over the last 20 months and leaves the number of people waiting for social housing approaching an all time high.
This situation has been exacerbated by the recent increase in rental charges within the property market in urban parts of the county, with rent al- lowance payments no longer able to keep pace with the rising rents.
Ironically the news of the shortage of social housing units comes within a week of reports of a record number of properties currently unoccupied in Clare.