Offaly's social housing waiting list is getting worse

THE social housing waiting list in Offaly is getting worse, despite efforts to turn things around in the last few years.

Several councillors told the recent meeting of Offaly County Council that they are far from happy with the situation and something focussed and determined needs to be done to tackle the problem.

Director of Services Sharon Kennedy told the meeting that the housing section in the Council is a very busy section. “It has been a very difficult couple of years. We have a big plan of work in front of us.

“There is a significant housing waiting list and a significant list of people seeking grants and housing loans.

“We also hope to reactivate estate management committees to try and instil in some people a pride in their estates.

“There is good news in the fact the social housing disabled grant has increased from €120,000 to €958,000.”

As of January 31 this year 492 applicants in Offaly are on the social housing list; 791 are on Housing Assistance Payments; 314 are on RAS; and 67 are on mortgage to rent.

Seven families are suffering from homelessness in the county; and 16 single people are without a home.

Clonamore House, Tullamore will be transformed into a high quality emergency homeless service, in a partnership between Midlands Simon Community and Sophia, a leading provider of supported housing, which has acquired the site.

Midlands Simon has confirmed funding of €3 million is being provided by the Department of Housing through the local authorities via the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS), to provide the improved regional emergency.

As part of the deal, a first-of-its-kind collaboration in Ireland, the current emergency accommodation unit at Ballymahon Road, Athlone will be retained for use for those in crisis situations.

Ms Kennedy said the Clonamore project is proceeding to tender and will include 17 professionally supported beds.
The Local Authority's Social Housing Stock at present is 1,969 units.

Under the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loans 2021 Scheme there were 29 loan applications in Offaly in 2021. 12 of these were approved and the amount, in loans, paid out to date is, €1,916,815.

Under the government's Housing for All scheme 463 new units will be delivered by 2026.

A total of 119 council homes are currently in the construction pipeline, including 18 homes in Kylebeg, Banagher; seven homes at Beechgrove Belmont; four homes in Belmont; 38 homes in Raheen Clara; and 20 homes at Dargan Drive Tullamore.

As part of the Just Transition programme for the Midlands region an increased allocation of €4.2m was awarded to Offaly for the Retrofit Programme. 36 units in Birr Municipal District are being retrofitted and the works should be completed by the end of the second quarter of this year. A Works Tender for 42 units in Tullamore MD has been submitted to the Department.

Cllr Peter Ormond welcomed the housing report. “We councillors have sat here for many years, receiving difficult housing reports, feeling more and more frustrated. But today we are seeing that things are at long last beginning to move positively forward. 463 units by 2026 is a very positive step in the right direction.

“Not a day goes by where we don't get calls from people in a distressed state seeking houses. “A big problem is it is impossible to get developers into our villages, places like Dunkerrin, Moneygall. We should pressurise the Department to allow the Council to purchase houses in these villages.”

Cllr Seán O'Brien praised the Council housing staff for their hard work. “I am often contacting them about some housing problem or other, and I find them very professional and decent.”

Cllr O'Brien said landlords “are getting out of the business of renting because of the jump in prices. As a result the HAP and RAS schemes are under huge pressure. More and more tenants are getting notices to quit from the landlords.

“I think we have to factor in the HAP and RAS figures in our social housing waiting list. Therefore I think our true housing waiting list in Offaly is 1,630 applicants.

“Housing for All is certainly not delivering. 463 units delivered by 2026 will only scratch the surface. What we need is at least 200 new homes being delivered each year. The Council really has to knuckle down to building a lot more new homes.

“Another problem is the timeline for these new homes is too slow.”

Cllr Clare Claffey agreed with Cllr O'Brien. “It is great to see some units coming through, but it is nowhere near enough,” she said.

Cllr John Carroll said there are a number of buildings on Main Street Birr which are partly empty and need to be brought back into use.

Cllr Neil Feighery said the situation is improving.  “However there is a lack of tradespeople in the building industry and the steep inflationary spiral is very problematic for the construction industry.”

Cllr John Leahy pointed out that people are often critical of the planning process “but at the same time it would be wrong to just quickly throw up buildings willy-nilly.

“On Main St Kilcormac eight residential units were brought into service during the last 18 months. I was directly involved in that project. It was a lot of work.

“Another issue is that the expectation of tenants has gone through the roof. You can't keep people in private rented accommodation happy at the moment. That is one of the reasons why some landlords are getting out. There has to be more incentive to stay in the game. “We also need to put more focus on affordable housing. So much focus is put by the Councils on social housing. I think that if a hundred houses were to commence being built in the morning then two thirds of them should be affordable housing and a third social housing.

“The social housing waiting list continues to grow. There is no way we will be able to keep up with it.” Housing Officer John Cunningham pointed out that sometimes retrofitting a house will cost €40,000 to €45,000. “The prices for retrofitting are high. However, once the retrofitting is done then the heating bills become much lower.”