Sir, – When will we learn? It was disturbing to read ("Nama considers offering 500 apartments as social housing", Home News, June 3rd) that consideration is being given by Nama, the Housing Agency and the Department of the Environment to using 500 apartments near the Square shopping centre in Tallaght in Dublin for social housing. According to the article, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has urged local authorities to reconsider the national guideline placing an upper limit of 20 per cent of social housing dwellings in a private development.
There are solid, evidence-based reasons for that limit – the long-standing and compelling evidence from around the world that undue concentration of disadvantaged families compounds the disadvantage experienced by those families, affecting children’s educational outcomes and life chances as well as the residents’ health, employment prospects and wellbeing.
The present housing crisis in Dublin must not be solved by adopting short-term strategies that could have serious long-term negative outcomes for people and communities, and especially for children. If we are serious about placing children's needs and interests at the centre of policy, as set out in the recent National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2020 published by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, we must recognise the lasting impact of housing on children's lives and plan accordingly. – Yours, etc,
ANNE COLGAN,
Ballinteer Road,
Dublin 16.