SINN Féin spokesperson on housing, Councillor Colly Kelly said high housing costs are not only driving poverty but also despair.
He said: “A survey by the Mental Health Foundation has found that worries over housing are a key factor in growing levels of stress particularly among young adults.
“It reports that one in every three 18 to 24 year-olds reporting housing worries, whether paying rent or trying to buy a house, as significant in undermining their mental wellbeing.
“We need more social housing to provide the kind of low cost certainty and security that many young people and young families need.
“Sinn Féin has consistently raised the issue of the impact a lack of social housing is having on mental ill health with both the Department of Communities and the Housing Executive,” he added.
