Galway Bay fm newsroom - The city council has passed its Scheme of Priority for Affordable Housing.
At a special meeting of the council today, councillors were asked to approve the methodology which will be used to determine the order of priority for people applying for affordable housing schemes.
All local authorities in the country must make an affordable housing scheme by June 18th this year.
The highest priority will be given to applicants who are within the income threshold and match the number of rooms available in certain accommodation, have been living in the city for the previous year, have a member of the household who attends education within a 10 kilometre radius of the property for sale and have a member of the household who works within 5 kilometres of the property.
The city council would hold on to an equity share in the property which could be up to a maximum of 40 per cent.
There would be no affordable housing waiting list and people would have to apply for affordable housing on a scheme by scheme basis, once it's advertised.
It's understood the first scheme could come on stream in 2 years, but city council lands in Ballybane will not be included as they have been designated for social housing.
Councillor Declan McDonnell says it's good news for people trying to buy a property in the city, for more on this story tune in to The News@1 for Galway...
