'Lick of paint' needed for Limerick council housing process
The proposal was described as a “very worthwhile motion”
COUNCILLORS are pushing to speed up the process of moving people into void properties.
Councillor Sarah Beasley brought forward a motion proposing that vacant council-owned properties, known as ‘voids’, that are “deemed structurally safe and habitable” be allocated to people on the housing waiting list “without delay”.
She proposed at this month’s full meeting of Limerick City and County Council that any “minor refurbishment and upgrade works” be carried out while the tenant is in-situ.
Príomh-Chomhairleoir, Councillor Tom Ruddle described it as “a very worthwhile motion”.
Mayor of Limerick, John Moran, seconded the motion, saying: “I think we absolutely need to try every innovation we can get in terms of getting people into housing.
“I know a lot of work is happening this year already, because we started the year with way too many houses on our backlog of voids that haven’t been addressed. In fairness to the team, they’ve been adding new crews, they’re getting us down from 50 weeks or something north of that, I think we’re down to 33.
“My intention is to get that down even further and this idea may actually help to do that once we can actually get people into houses a bit more quickly and if we can find a safe way to work around them while they’re there, I think that’d be fine.”
He continued: “Obviously, there’s a question at the beginning of making sure the accommodation is safe, which I’m sure you’re aware of. But otherwise I think that all innovation like this that can get people into houses that we have that are vacant is welcome as far as I’m concerned.”
Councillor Jerome Scanlan commented: “Compliments to Cllr Beasley on that motion and to the mayor on his comments on it as well. The state is spending very significant money and we’re experiencing very significant time delays, all because of standard mayor. We do deserve a property standard, but sometimes, in my view, we go OTT in terms of the work we do, the delays, the checking, and at the end of the day you find when the snagging is done that there can be a problem… that can delay several allocations by months.
“Most people would live in those houses. They were in very good condition when they were vacated, but yet we have to go through an application to some department, God knows where, to get further funding to do what may or may not be necessary.”
Several councillors across the chamber supported the proposal, with Councillor Stephen Keary saying the motion was “founded on very practical, sound grounds”.
“In recent years,” he continued, “there used to be a situation where the council, on a house being vacated, they would take it over and give it a lick of paint and freshen it up and reallocate it. That could be done in a few weeks.
“There was no big fuss about removing floors and bringing it up to an A2 rating or a B2 rating, or B any rating. It was built, it was a local authority house that had been reasonably fresh - there was no need to do any more with it.”
Councillor Catherine Slattery supported the “excellent” motion, but challenged Mayor Moran that “actions speak louder than words”.
“You’ve seconded a motion, you’ve supported it, so where do we go from here? Will we have an update on this? Will voids be opened? … You're the decision maker, you can make the decision on this. So, are you going to do that?”
The reply, provided by Mayor Moran, outlined “several practical considerations that must be addressed before a property can be occupied,” but acknowledged that “the proposal is worthy of further consideration”.
Cllr Keary said that he “totally disagreed with most of the sentiments expressed” in the response.
Councillor Sharon Benson also commented that she didn’t agree with “a lot of what was said in the response,” adding: “councillors in this chamber have been asking for this for a very long time, and I think we have to put it into practice.
“So what I’m asking is, can the council do a report on all voids that are on a list and give a breakdown of what works need to be done to the property and furnish that to councillors. We can’t just let this go, we’ve asked for this loads of times before and I think there has to be another step forward from this motion here today, and that would be to report back to councillors once that report is done. Can I propose that we have a workshop once that report is complete and brought back to us as soon as possible.”
Mayor Moran echoed the previous two speakers, saying: “ we have to try everything here.”
“Everyone of us in this chamber has had works done in our house while we’ve been living in our house, sometimes of a fairly significant nature.
“It shouldn't be beyond the wit of man or woman to actually find a way to let people into a house safely and actually work around them. So, we will most certainly be pushing it from my side, and I think Vincent is ok with that. I think we just need to get our handles round the team, and we are actually designing reports that I want to see and I will want to share with the council.”
He added that “actually quite significant progress” has already been made, but “that doesn’t mean we can’t try new stuff”.
Cllr Slattery described the response as “ludicrous” and “kicking the can down the line,” adding that she welcomes the workshop and the mayor’s comments.
“We need this to happen and we need this to happen quickly.”
Councillor Martin Ryan added that he believes there should be a grading system for the void houses based on the level of intervention needed.