Mayor predicts rent he thinks tenants will pay at Limerick's new 'Smart' housing

MAYOR John Moran has said he wants to see at least 2,000 modular homes built in Limerick - and more if there is demand.

It comes as a demonstration of how the temporary housing will look, feel and operate, went live in the city centre.

For the next seven weeks, Arthur’s Quay Park is home to two cutting-edge housing prototypes.

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One of the key planks of the mayor’s programme, to tackle the housing crisis in Limerick, he hopes it will bring the average rent down in the city.

Two sizes of home are being showcased, with feedback from the public informing the next steps of the project’s development.

Mayor Moran said the rent will differ in terms of the size and location of any property.

Unlike the private market, these are not being rented for profit, with all money from tenants put back into a central pot which will then be used to pay back loans taken out to build the houses - and potentially used as leverage on future borrowings. He expects the modular units will command a rent of well below the average in the city centre, which stands at around €1,400-per month.

“We think we can do it in the lower thousands each month,” Mayor Moran told Limerick Live. “We are not doing the rents to make money, we are doing the rents to get back the cost of the units. Larger rents will subsidise other rents for those who can’t afford the bigger ones,” he said.

The first citizen said, while the aim is up to 2,000 of these modular units across several sites in the city if demand outstrips supply, he’d hope many more could be constructed.

"One of the reasons we are trying to set the rent at a fair rate, as opposed to targeting the market is, at least it means if you do not get in the first site, but you get the second one, you are not losing out as it will be roughly the same fair rent,” he said.
“If we find we still have loads of people wanting these, we will do another round. We keep going, we find more land, we service more land. I have four years left in my term, so we could easily get two more waves of this,” the mayor added.

It’s not the intention to offer these properties to people on the housing waiting list, rather to target them at students, people leaving home for the first time, and key workers.

This means the council will need to set up a designated activity company to allow this to happen - in a similar manner to what took place with Limerick Twenty Thirty and the supply of offices locally.

All eyes will be on Government’s budget next month, with the hope funding will be put in place to accelerate the building of modular homes.

“We are doing our best to propose that we get funding from national Government to be able to do the planning on not just one of the sites, but 10 at the same time. If we can drive that one, we are in a quick process. We’ve already tendered for the people to help us work on that. They are ready to go, so it’s just a question of funding now,” he said.

Mayor Moran also hopes Government will give the green light to allow council to borrow money to fund this project.

Around 10 sites across Limerick have been identified for modular housing, but there has been opposition to their construction in some quarters.

The mayor has issued a call to those who are sceptical to visit the demonstration in Arthur’s Quay.

"Come and have a look for yourselves. If they have a son or daughter living at home, could they imagine that person who goes to work every day living in one of these units? If so, why wouldn’t they want it for family members living close by?”

He also pointed out that these new batches of housing will provide passive surveillance to parks - and new greenspace is being proposed across the city.

Those interested in viewing inside the houses, known as Smart Housing, or short term modular affordable rental transition housing can do so until this Friday, September 12 between 12pm and 6pm.

They will be open on Saturday, September 13 from noon to 4pm.

Following this, they will be open every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday up to the end of October.