KILDARE: Homeless charity shelves apartments plan for town centre
It's 'no longer in a position to proceed' with the proposal
A plan to convert a dwelling near Naas town centre into apartments has been shelved.
A Naas Municipal District meeting was told that the development was planned for the Alms House at Dublin Road.
According to Kildare County Council the Peter McVerry Trust, the national homeless and housing charity which is committed to tackling homelessness, had intended to redevelop this property.
The plan was to provide three self contained own door units consisting of one bedroom each, for housing accommodation purposes.
But the trust has recently advised KCC it is “no longer in a position to carry out this redevelopment.”
KCC is currently in talks with the St Vincent de Paul Society “regarding ownership of and the future use of the property.”
Cllr Anne Breen said the house was once used “to house destitute women in Naas.”
She also said it is a protected structure.
According to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage the building, also known as the Widows’ House, is of considerable historical and social importance and the building “attests to the longstanding presence of an almshouse on the site, the earliest of which is dated to 1590.”
It was extensively renovated in the last 20th century to accommodate a residential use and “the building remains unattractive feature on the streetscape.”
It dates back to 1919.