Council exceeds housing target within 12 months

Tipperary Co Council is one of the few local authorities in the country to have achieved its housing delivery target with 12 months to spare.

The Dept of Housing, Planning and Local Government identified a target of 625 social housing units to be delivered in Tipperary between 2018 and 2021 as part of the Rebuilding Ireland programme. The council was to achieve this target in conjunction with approved housing bodies through building new houses, as well as through acquisition and long-term leasing, in addition to separate HAP and RAS targets.

The target was exceeded in the middle of last month, when the council reported delivery of some 627 units throughout the county.

Speaking at the January online meeting of the council, Director of Housing Sinead Carr said Tipperary is one of the few councils that has managed to achieve 100% of its housing target so far in advance of completion of the programme timeframe. Ms Carr said over 1,100 units in total would be provided by the end of the year, increasing the council's existing stock by around 20%.

If the council continues delivering housing at such a rate, a significant portion of Tipperary's population would have local authority accommodation by 2025. Ms Carr paid tribute to Senior Engineer Jonathan Cooney and his team for the success of the housing programme.

Earlier in the meeting, Cllr Pat English expressed concern over the number of people on the council's housing list, which presently stands at around 3,600 applicants countywide. He believed the council would need to build between 500 and 600 houses per year to meet present and future demand. Ms Carr made the point that around half of the applicants on the list are in some form of accommodation. The list is not necessarily a reflection of actual need.

Cllr David Dunne asked if housing construction could continue under the current Covid-19 restrictions.

Mr Cooney replied that only projects due to be complete before the end of February are continuing. There are only three such projects in the country, one of them being the building of two units at Coachyard, Cloughjordan. All other projects have been stood down.

Cllr Andy Moloney sought action on long-term voids or boarded up, vacant premises in towns and villages that the council has acquired and could be used for social housing. He recalled the council writing to the minister about the situation over a year ago and seeking to allow tenants carry out their own work on such dwellings.

Ms Carr said the council achieved a great deal of work on voids during 2020 as well, having applied for a €4 million loan and received Stimulus funding of just under €2 million to tackle the situation. Some 143 void units were delivered.

Ms Carr expected to have most long-term voids dealt with by the middle of this year. She asked coucillors to make the Housing section aware of any outstanding units in need of attention.

HOUSING DELIVERY PROGRAMME

The council is seeking to complete its 2018-2021 Housing delivery programme with construction works onsite at 11 locations, providing 169 dwellings; a further 44 dwellings with the contractor appointed at four locations; four schemes at tender stage, providing 59 dwellings; two schemes to be advertised for Part 8 providing 13 dwellings in January, and 79 dwellings in the early stages of the four-stage approval process.

Among the local construction projects are Cormack Drive, Nenagh, where council says it will complete work on 12 new units this year. A further development of nine houses at Castle Crescent in Nenagh is also in the planning. A contractor has been appointed for 14 units in Portroe village; these are to be completed in 2022. Contractors are onsite for the delivery of 11 new houses at Mulcaire Manor, Newport, and 16 at Shesheraghmore, Borrisokane; both developments are to be completed this year.

Meanwhile in Roscrea, plans are in train for the construction of 30 units at Glencarrick and nine at Grove St. This month the council will advertise public consultation for the building of four new units in Ardcroney.