Council set to sell renovated homes in Limerick town for nearly €1m

THE cost of renovating six council-owned homes in Abbeyfeale, ahead of their sale to Limerick Twenty Thirty, is set to exceed €1 million after additional monies were allocated from the mayoral fund.

The properties which were compulsorily acquired by the local authority, will be disposed of under a pilot ‘not-for-profit’ cost recovery rental model.

The homes will be allocated to working households who are above social housing income thresholds but who are unable to access suitable private rental accommodation.

At their November meeting, elected members of the Newcastle West Municipal District were told additional monies has been provided by Mayor John Moran to fund the renovation of the previously derelict properties to ensure they meet rental standards.

Cllr Michael Collins said: “I voiced my reservations at the last meeting (in October) but I am not stopping it. I think we have not seen all the figures yet. You also have to look at the management and rental costs. It's the costs after the fact that are important.”

Cllr John Sheahan, who also criticised the scheme at the previous meeting said: “I am not fully convinced with the model but it seems to be the only way to do it right now. They have been sitting idle for quite a while and I don't know whose fault that is.”

Cllr Tom Ruddle noted the scheme will benefit people whose income falls above the cut-off for social housing: “A lot of people are between stools, their income locks them out of social housing but is also too low for the private market. I think its worth giving it a go. I think it will be a success.”

Cllr Liam Galvin welcomed the proposal adding there is significant interest in the six homes “This has come a long way. They were horrible looking eyesores and now they are a credit to the builders. People are in a bad way looking for homes.”

The proposed sale of the houses, for €990,000, was formally approved by elected members at a special meeting of the full council on Monday.

At that meeting, Mayor Moran noted the properties will ultimately remain under the ownership of the local authority.

He added that there had been several meetings, consultations and workshops regarding the Abbeyfeale properties and that the process needs to be speeded up going forward.