Will the Ghost Towns be filled with those displaced by floods?

the_syco

http://news.eircom.net/breakingnews/16891939/?view=Standard
http://iol.breakingnews.ie/news/ireland/floods-may-permanently-displace-thousands-436584.html
http://www.thepost.ie/breakingnews/ireland/eymhgbojidey/

Thousands of people flooded out of their homes may never return, it was claimed tonight.

Junior minister Martin Mansergh, who oversees the Office of Public Works, said resettlement may be their only alternative following the devastation caused by the heaviest rain on record.

"I think relocation is inevitable in the case of some homes," the minister said.

"People have said and some of them will say it even in a few weeks time when the floods have gone that it isn't possible to go on living in particular areas so I think that is an area that is going to have to be addressed."

Thousands of acres in parts of the west, mid-west and south were still under water after the heaviest rain and worst floods on record.

In Galway up to 18,000 people across the county were being warned to boil water after traces of human or animal waste was found in supplies.

Several thousand homes in the Ballinasloe and Mid-Galway areas have been hit by the scare.

In south-east Clare about 20 families evacuated during flooding along the lower River Shannon have been told they can return to their homes.

A €12m flood fund has been put in place by the Government for affected homeowners and businesses with ministers insisting the first payment will be made in the next fortnight.

I'm thinking, after the flooding has shown what places will be flooded, will those people be given "new" houses, in the ghost towns throughout the country that are still dry? The banks/NAMA/etc could be given money for the houses that the government "buys"... may be cheaper than building new houses? I don't know, a thought I had?

And will houses and apartments such as the one here http://www.monasette.com/archive/000999.html be looked at with stricter guidelines for future planning permissions?

Senna

We can assume that any house purchased by local councils over the next few years will be from NAMA stock. I would also assume that some of those flooded houses will be uninhabitable, and the unfortunate people may get council housing. So your proposal is possible, but it wont be anywhere near as sensible as, "these houses are dry and nobody will buy them, so you can move in now while the finer details are ironed out".