Tag Archives: social housing

Three approved housing bodies have been allocated funding totalling €2,416,000 for the delivery of 31 new housing units in the county, Clare County Council has confirmed. The funding has been jointly approved by Environment Minister Alan Kelly and Minister for State for Housing Paudie Coffey. Focus Ireland Housing Association is being allocated €550,000 for the delivery of 12 units, for young adults (18+ years) at risk of homelessness. €966,000 is being allocated to Clare Haven Services Ltd for the provision of seven units at Kildysart Road in Ennis, which are being allocated to women at risk of homelessness due to alleged domestic violence. Kilkee Housing Association has been allocated €900,000 for the delivery of 12 homes in Doonbeg, to cater for rural housing needs in the wider area. Clare County Council says it expects that newly acquired units will come on stream for people with housing need this year while the newly constructed units will be completed by 2017.

A KILRUSH resident has claimed that Clare County Council will be under pressure to “hand pick” possible social housing residents at Béal an Inbhir in Kilrush. Joanne Carrig, who lives on Pound Street in the town, has been on the social housing list in the town for 12 years and is seeking one of the 10 to 13 houses that may become available under social housing in the estate, which is located close to Shanakyle Gravyard. Several ‘For sale’ signs have recently appeared on the estate. “In my opinion, the pressure is on the council to go and hand pick who is going to be put back there,” she said. Ms Carrig maintains that not everybody can afford to buy a house. “Fair play to you if you have bought your house but the way the economy has gone these days, circumstances can change very quickly for people,” she said. Ms Carrig maintains that everybody would ideally like to be …

Nearly €5m is to be spent on developing 25 new social housing units in Clare, as part of a new nationwide investment programme. Ten homes are being built in Quilty, along with 15 more at Tullyglass in Shannon at a combined cost of €4.75 million. The money forms part of a newly-announced investment programme worth €312 million that seeks to build 1700 new homes throughout Ireland. Minister for the Environment, Community & Local Government, Alan Kelly said the first major direct build social housing programme is part of the first phase of  the Government’s social housing strategy. €312 million has been approved which will see an additional 1,700 social housing units come on stream by 2017 with an estimated 3,000 additional jobs in construction created. The projects, which cut across each local authority area, range in size from small numbers of units to projects of over 50 units for some of the Dublin local authorities. Minister Kelly said local authorities …

Galway City and County Councils is to receive €58.4 million towards the construction of 1,126 new social houses in Galway. The new houses are due to be built by 2017 and will take 21% and 29% of households off the city and council housing lists respectively. “This is good news for the thousands of families on housing waiting lists across Galway. We will finally see local authorities building houses again – something that Fianna Fail stopped and Labour has been committed to starting again. This funding will provide homes for Galway families and is the first phase in a historic investment in social housing across the country,” noted Deputy Derek Nolan. “Social housing is a social good. It provides quality homes for those who cannot afford their own, relieves pressure on the private rented market and is a control on private house prices. I want to see more social houses built so that those on waiting lists can settle, raise …

Clare County Council has been urged to apply, without delay, for its share of the €3.8billion social housing fund announced by Environment Minister, Alan Kelly. “We have a real social housing need in Clare, and today’s announcement by Minister Kelly to deliver 35,000 homes across the country over the next six years is greatly welcome,”commented Clare TD, Michael McNamara. “I am urging Clare County Council to submit applications to this fund, to address the social housing problem. New rules put in place by Minister Kelly mean that the county council will take a strong leading role in social housing provision in the county, where previously it was mainly the job of private operators,” he added.

Clare County Council has been accused of “massaging” official figures on its social housing list, amid growing concern of a 28% hike in applicants seeking local authority accommodation. Strategic policy committee chairman, Councillor Gerry Flynn, claimed official figures did not fully reflect the real social housing waiting list, which is already at “crisis point” and of “epidemic” proportions. Councillor Flynn claimed the council is “massaging” the overall figures due to the lack of a proper validation process, as applicants were knocked off the list if they didn’t respond to a council letter, asking them if they had a house. He believes an applicant should be left on a list unless the council has “concrete proof” they have obtained permanent accommodation. His charge coincides with a challenge from Housing Minister Paudie Coffey for the council and other local authorities to “step up to the plate” in terms of social housing provision. According to the most recent figures provided by the council, …

WORK on returning dozens of vacant and boarded-up social housing units throughout County Clare to productive use will begin next month. Clare County Council’s Housing Department says it will refurbish 42 properties before the end of the year as a result of two tranches of funding allocations received from the Department of the Environment, Community & Local Government. The council this week received €399,500 to carry out works to 20 vacant properties in Ennis (10), Ruan, Shannon (2), Kilrush, Cross, Clarecastle, Whitegate, Killaloe and Moyasta. Eaarlier this year the Department approved €400,740 for the purpose of refurbishing 22 other properties located in Clarecastle, Ennistymon (3), Kildysart, Tulla, Corofin and Sixmilebridge (2), Ennis, Mullagh, Cross, Newmarket-On-Fergus, Shannon, Kilkee, Miltown Malbay and Broadford. Work is scheduled to commence next month with all 42 properties expected to be made available for habitation before the end of 2014. The news has been welcomed by Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, Councillor John Crowe, who said: …

The Department of the Environment’s decision to scrap a national loan scheme means the council will have to pay off in the region of €8 million for land it purchased for about €5 million. Clare County Council will have to fork out an additional estimated €358,000 each year for the next 20 years to pay unexpected loan charges for undeveloped land in Ennistymon and Feakle. The circumstances surrounding the purchase of land for social housing in North and East Clare and the ending of a scheme to pay off loans taken out for social and affordable housing that was never built has been condemned as a “shambles” by Councillor Pat Burke. Having criticised expenditure totalling more than €5m for this social housing landbank, councillors had hoped that the national exchequer would bear the cost of paying off the loan debts when the council requested its transfer to the Land Aggregation Scheme (LAS). The scheme was set up by the Department …