A two bedroom, prefab house of the type currently being considered by Dublin’s four local authorities. They can be assembled on site in less than a week.
Most people know there is a huge housing crisis across the country at present and there are thousands of people anxiously waiting and cooling their heels on the Waterford city and county list that is growing every month.
Everybody also knows that there is little chance of the problem being sorted out anytime soon, but could a current development in Dublin offer a ray of hope?
At a site on the East Wall Road, a number of companies specialising in prefabricated modular housing are demonstrating their designs for the benefit of the top brass attached to the four Dublin local authorities.
We are talking about prefabs here but not the kind we remember from years ago. These are up to the minute designs using modern technology and materials.
Last week, the highly respected Fr Peter McVerry Trust gave its backing to the use of prefab homes as part of the effort to provide badly needed family housing.
The demonstration so impressed the McVerry Trust Chief Executive, Pat Doyle, that he has now called for emergency powers to be given to all the capital’s local authorities to ensure units can be delivered as soon as possible.
Mr Doyle said there had been concerns about the quality, cost and delivery times of modular housing but the test site had alleviated those concerns.
Fr McVerry himself, said he fully supported the use of modular housing as a temporary solution to homelessness. He had seen high-quality, well-designed and well-finished units that would make good homes.
According to reports, such houses can be assembled on-site in a matter of days and could be available to families within three to six months.
It mightn’t be an ideal solution but I’m pretty sure if I was on the housing list, and way down the pecking order, I would jump at the chance of a home so described by Fr McVerry.