Halliday Mills complex sees 'significant' number of tenancy terminations

Tuesday’s meeting of Dundalk JPC (Joint Policing Committee) heard from the National Housing Services Manager of Cooperative Housing, which runs the Halliday Mills complex on Quay Street.

Cooperative Housing had been asked by members to address the meeting to discuss anti-social behaviour issues at the complex.

Finbarr Hennessy Services Manager with the body admitted that the complex had gotten off to a “rocky start” when the development first opened with reports of anti-social behaviour within the complex.

Complaints had been made regarding loud noise, drug dealing, drug use and harassment of other tenants.

“We feel that we have turned a corner and that we have resolved most of the issues of anti-social behaviour in the development with the cooperation and help of the gardai and Louth County Council," he said.

Mr Hennessy acknowledged that it was an ongoing process and that there would always be some issues, but that with the help of the community who have already begun to implement positive changes, the situation would continue to improve. 

Councillor Maeve Yore queried if there had been many evictions from the complex and if it was possible to take a zero tolerance approach going forward to ensure the majority of residents could live peacefully and safely. 

Councillor Kevin Meenan said that while a lot of people were coming to him with problems in the beginning, issues have since seemed to “quieten down” and that the cooperative living project was a “big learning curve” for all parties involved.

“Apartment living is probably the way forward here and we’re going to see an awful lot more going up around Dundalk… so it’s key that we get this right.” 

Councillor Meenan also said it was vital to look at how apartments were allocated in the first place and how to deal with allocating housing to people with challenging issues and to young families. 

Councillor Emma Coffey asked if the ban on housing evictions or the backlog at the RTB (Residential Tenancies Board) has had an impact on the cooperative’s ability to deal with the anti-social behaviour issues and evict troublesome tenants if necessary.

In response, National Housing Services Manager with Cooperative Housing, Finbarr Hennessy, told the meeting that the group tries to ensure any action taken on a tenancy is “fair and proportionate.”

He confirmed that Cooperative Housing have so far terminated four tenancies at the Complex resulting in the properties being given back, in a further case a tenancy has been terminated and the housing body were waiting to get the property back and that a final tenancy was being dealt with at the RTB at the moment. 

“There is no getting away from it. The number of terminations that we have done in this estate is quite significant,” he said.

He did, however, say that he has yet to come across a new estate that didn’t have “teething problems.”

He further stated that the eviction ban had not had an impact on enforcements for anti-social behaviour, but that they have “suffered greatly from the backlog [at the RTB].” 

“It does leave people remaining in tenancies that they should be removed from for the good of everybody else in those areas.

“There’s not much we can do on it. All we can do is be as efficient as we can and represent the interests of members as well as we can.”