Local election candidates in next month’s election are being encouraged to support more social housing for people with mental health difficulties in their constituency.

The call is being made by the Housing Association for Integrated Living (HAIL), Ireland’s specialist mental health housing association.

The housing association provides social housing and mental health tenancy sustainment services to people living with significant and enduring mental health difficulties.

HAIL is aiming to deliver an additional 300 new homes under its current strategic plan (2024-2028) and is appealing to local election candidates to support them reach this target.

Commenting today (07.07.24), HAIL CEO Martina Smith, said: “The public will go to the polls in a month’s time to vote for their new city and county councillors. We are calling on local election candidates to commit to supporting more social housing specifically for people living with mental health difficulties in their electoral area.

“Statistics from the Housing Agency show there were over 1,600 people in 2023 on waiting lists for social housing, who identified mental health as the basis for their housing need. Therefore, there is a clear demand for more social housing for people living with mental health difficulties and more needs to be done to increase supply.

“Through our homes and support services, HAIL is playing a key role in supporting people with mental health difficulties to live independently and we are determined to do more. We are asking local election candidates to support our call to ensure that 10% of Part V properties are allocated for people with mental health difficulties. These are properties in new build estates which have been allocated for social housing. We see this as an effective measure local authorities could implement to increase the supply of social housing for people living with mental health difficulties.”

Martina Smith added: “City and county councillors play an important role in shaping policy in their electoral area. We hope local election candidates support our call for more social housing for people living with mental health difficulties, as this will help to provide more stable and secure homes for those in need.”

For more information about HAIL visit www.hail.ie