The head of the Land Development Agency has hit out at local authorities for failing to use available funds to tackle the housing crisis. John Moran has said “bigger and bolder” ideas and a “change of culture” away from building semi-detached houses to denser development is required. Mr Moran said that only 5% of a €2bn urban regeneration fund, which is open to applications by local authorities and other State agencies, was applied for in 2018. “The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund was allocated €2bn for expenditure between 2019 and 2027,” he said. Some homeless services will extend their opening hours while additional outreach services will also be rolled out to assist rough-sleepers.

Source: Irish Examiner November 06, 2019 00:00 UTC