Council urged to buy NTQ houses

Tenants encouraged to contact local authority over lifting of eviction ban

Tipperary Co Council has been called on to buy properties where tenants are served with notices to quit (NTQ), as councillors expressed alarm over the lifting of the ban on evictions.

Housing dominated this week's meeting of the council, at which several councillors spoke of receiving representations from tenants fearing that they would end up homeless after the moratorium on evictions ends on April 1. The meeting heard that 117 NTQs were issued in Tipperary in the third quarter of last year, while there were 19 more in the first two months of this year.

There were 39 homeless presentations in Tipperary in the year to date. Councillors wanted to know how the local authority's homelessness services would cope with the increased demand.

Cllr David Dunne said the situation would lead to people sleeping in garda stations, as has happened in the past, because there would be nowhere else for them to go.

Cllr John Fitzgerald wanted the council to see opportunities in NTQs and purchase houses where a tenant is in-situ and happy to stay. “I suggest we start buying goodo,” he said, reasoning that the council is always on the lookout for properties to buy.

Director of Housing Sinéad Carr said the council has pursued 128 properties as a result of notices to quit being served over the last nine months. Of these, 44 were purchased. She said the council does not purchase in every NTQ case as it does not want to inflate property prices; the local authority must also seek value for money.

Ms Carr outlined the options available to people served with notices to quit. The council tries to assist by way of emergency accommodation, sourcing other HAP properties or allocating a house. But she stressed that tenants must make contact with the council the moment they receive a notice to quit if they want help.

Cllr Dunne did not want property owners to have the impression that the council is buying “goodo” as this would lead to them putting up prices. He wanted the council to go back to building social housing estates on its own land, though not the “concrete jungles” of the past.

Cllr Siobhán Ambrose wanted to see more use made of vacant accommodation over shops in town centres. But she also welcomed that the council has almost 1,000 new homes at various stages of completion across the county. “We're boxing well above our weight in terms of other local authorities,” Cllr Ambrose noted of the housing construction plan.

CROÍ CÓNAITHE

Among other solutions proposed by councillors, Cllr Séamie Morris mentioned retirement homes as an affordable option. He also wanted the council to invite a presentation from providers of modular housing.

Ms Carr mentioned that the council is working with the private sector in relation to the building of two retirement villages.

Several councillors spoke highly of the Croí Cónaithe Fund, which aims to bring unused buildings back into use and has been extended to include houses in rural areas. Cllr Michael O'Meara said the scheme would be more beneficial if the grant amount was increased to €100,000. This would result in more dwellings being renovated and many “eyesores” being removed from local towns and villages. Ms Carr said the scheme is proving successful with 83 applications to date in Tipperary, 29 of which have been approved in prinicple.

Cllr Joe Hannigan said the capacity of wastewater treatment plants is a major obstacle to new housing construction. Around 40 houses could be built between Ballycommon and Cloughjordan, but Irish Water is “dragging its heels” on upgrading the treatment plants, he said.

Ms Carr said there are nevertheless nearly 1,000 extant planning permissions in the county that could still be proceeded with, despite the capacity issue. Chief Executive Joe MacGrath added that the council is engaging with the State utility on the treatment plant issue.

“It is not fair to say that Irish Water are holding up projects,” he told the meeting.