Concern over housing scheme home turned 'drug den' in Nenagh

At the recent Nenagh Municipal District meeting, the first issue to be raised was by Cllr Seamus Morris who has serious concerns about how the ‘housing first' scheme is being utilised in the area.

He commented: “The housing first scheme signed a house in Nenagh over to an individual that has been arrested five times since moving in and the house is being used as a drug den.

“I don’t want anyone getting these houses anymore, the system is being abused. I want this stopped.

“The estate that this house is in is one that has never had any trouble previously, the Gardai were never called into this estate and since this individual has moved in this has all changed.

“This is an absolute failure, this house was designed to be lived in by elderly people and I apologise to those people who are being failed.

The Housing First scheme was introduced in 2022 to provide a comprehensive and holistic approach to addressing homelessness for people experiencing mental health, physical health, substance misuse, social, behavioural, and other challenges.

Cllr Louise Morgan Walsh agreed with Cllr Morris saying “When I was out canvassing I heard about this issue and I have to say I felt so bad for these people.”

“One elderly person even had their apartment broken into.”

Cllr John Carroll went on to comment on the related issue of crime and drugs in the area: “There are a tiny minority promoting drugs in the area and they seem to be a law unto themselves.

“It’s getting worse and people feel like they are a nuisance to Gardai if they are calling in the issues.

“We need to beef up Garda support and we need to be ruthless with these people.”

A representive from the housing authority was at the meeting and answered Cllr Morris’s concerns saying “housing first is to help people that would have the most chaotic lifestyles.

“When people move into these houses they get full access to the HSE and the idea is that they would be helped with their addictions and related issues.”

Cllr Morris interjected saying, “This is not working, the house was designed for the elderly and that’s who shpould be living in it.”

The housing representative responded “We need to see complaints coming in and that will help us with legal proceedings, people need to send us complaints directly.”

Cllr John Carroll followed this up by speaking out on an issue that had been raised to him recently by members of the public around caravans in the area.

“There is an appalling level of mistreatment of animals that are being kept outside caravans in areas that aren’t fit for these animals.

“There are dogs and horses being severely mistreated and animal welfare should be brought in to tackle this issue.”

The housing representatives at the meeting answered this by explaining that this was unfortunately not an issue for them and that “if a caravan is on the road it is a roads issue so they would be the ones who would have to deal with the issue.”