20 new social housing homes delivered to North Kildare residents, service provide confirms

Housing Body and service provider Respond has announced that it has been welcoming new tenants to their lifetime homes in Westfield, Leixlip.

The homes were delivered by Respond through Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2021, in partnership with Kildare County Council (KCC).

Respond has said that the Westfield area is host to 20 new lifetime homes for Respond tenants, and that all of these are two bedroom apartments.

The homes have been funded by a combination of private finance from the Housing Finance Agency and a loan from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Niamh Randall, a spokesperson for Respond, commented: "We are proud of the strong working relationship we have with KCC, enabling us to deliver these 20 lifetime homes for families and individuals who need them.

"The tenants who are moving in now will become part of the community here and we hope they will be very happy: this is only possible with the ongoing co-operation of our partners.

She continued: "We would like to thank KCC, the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government and the Housing Finance Agency; our partners are essential to us achieving our goals of delivering additional social homes and providing services in the community. 

"Over 90 per cent of Respond’s delivery is newly constructed homes... over the last 40 years, we’ve amassed considerable experience in managing the construction process and our in-house design team has wide ranging expertise in all aspects of housing delivery.

"We remain committed to playing our part building homes throughout the country and providing services for families and individuals who are in need," she concluded.

It has been confirmed that nine homes so far have been allocated to individuals and families on the KCC housing waiting list. 

Describing the new units, the service said in a statement: "High levels of insulation in the walls, floors and roof alongside a state of the art air to water central heating system, highly efficient, thermostatically controlled radiators and high performance windows combine to ensure lower energy usage in these homes.

"All of the homes in Westfield have BER A3 rating."

Respond now have 706 tenants living in 319 homes in Kildare, which is in addition to the over 14,000 tenants nationwide living in 6,443 homes. 

The organisation currently has 1,478 homes both in construction and on site right now.