More a case of won’t pay than can’t pay? …
The council has so far secured four possession orders from the courts. In two of these cases, the tenants paid the full amount of arrears directly; in a third the tenant is now repaying the amount weekly, but in the fourth case the tenant will not pay.
The Herbert Hill story is even worse than we thought. It’s been bought by a German real estate fund and DLR Council “is expected to pay €2,000 to €3,000 a month to lease each of the 87 new apartments at Herbert Hill”.
These are the best apartments built in Dundrum recently and in a great location, 2 minutes to the LUAS and just across the road from Ireland’s finest shopping centre. Like the car park in the Town Centre, this decision is wrong on so many levels.
How long before we hear that a relative of one of the councillors has been given one of these apartment at a fraction of the rent which the council will be paying to the Germans?
I guess no-one ever told the council:
“Renting is dead money”
or
“It is cheaper to buy than to rent”
I wonder are they finding it harder to shift some of these units now as we can see from PS’s numbers that rents have plateaued… if that is the case then who better than the council to come in and pay top dollar for the whole lot?
Where’s my nama? extends to Council tenants
Top-earning city council tenants most likely to default on rent
[Dublin] social housing tenants with the highest incomes are most likely to be in arrears on their rent, with 25 tenants in the top qualifying wage bracket owing more than €27,000 each in unpaid rents to [Dublin City Council]It emerged last month that the council is owed some €33 million by tenants, the largest sum ever owed to any local authority in unpaid rents. It represents an increase of more than €10 million over the last decade, with €19.5 million owed in 2009.
Almost 60 per cent of council tenants are behind on their rents, with figures presented to councillors on Monday showing higher earners owe the most.
The council’s 24,574 tenants pay rent based on their incomes. The average rent paid is €69.41 a week, but almost half of tenants – 11,888, largely those whose only income comes from social welfare benefits – are paying the minimum rent of €25.65 weekly.
The maximum rent the city council charges is €425 a week, but no tenant is currently paying this amount, with the current highest weekly charge set at €265.87.
Interesting points made by Dr Bill Nowlan - founder of Hibernia Reit and Urbeo Residential in relation to social housing
Our system now has multiple contradictions:
The rent tenants are charged for social housing is insufficient to manage or maintain that stock. The average social-housing rent is about €200 a month in Ireland; in comparable countries it would be between €600 and €800. Uniquely, Ireland generally charges below market rents even to tenants who have the ability to pay a viable rent.
City councils selling houses, HAP, council tenants rent and arrears results in a crazy dysfunctional housing market
A lot of solid points. Some moaning. Ultimately nowadays any housing article that doesn’t mention migration and globalisation is very incomplete.
Following a link from that article:
Dolores Wilson, who grew up in the docklands, says the Part V system has manifestly not worked for the local community. “We were promised 10 per cent but everything so far is going off site and it is the council that is to blame for that, it’s not the tech companies. We understand that those workers have to live somewhere too. The council say they are getting it in Rialto, but that’s no good to people on the housing list here. What benefit is it to us? We are just asking for our fair share.”
From Grand Canal Dock to Rialto is 5 km. Workers paying full whack for their own housing are commuting 75 km and more. Are we really saying people have to have their social housing needs fulfilled within a few metres of where they want to live?
I agree and think a national housing body should be set up as opposed to local county councils.
But I can already hear the crys- “the rich don’t have to live/deal with social housing”. “Why are they protected” etc
Another year of dysfunction ahead for Ireland’s property market
One company that added significantly to the housing stock in 2019 was Irish-listed housebuilder Glenveagh Properties, which completed 844 unit sales during the year, generating revenue of €284 million.
The average selling price achieved by the company rose by a tasty 16 per cent to €332,000, reflecting “significant deliveries” from starter-home schemes and the sale of 90 units at Herbert Hill in Dundrum.The Dundrum sale highlights the peculiar nature of the Irish housing market at present. Glenveagh sold the development – which is situated beside the Dundrum Town Centre – as a job lot to German investor Realis for €55 million. That equates to a healthy average price of €611,000 each.
In turn, Realis is reported to be planning a 25-year agreement with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which will pay up to €3,000 a month to rent these properties to accommodate people on its social housing list.
This would set a high benchmark for people trying to rent under their own steam in the area, who then struggle to save the deposit required by the Central Bank to buy a house, which would be cheaper for them financially than paying sky-high rents.**
It has also taken 90 housing units (situated right beside the Luas green line) off the market for sale to young couples, who are crying out for well-located properties to purchase.
More 3 grand a month social housing for Dundrum
Buried somewhere deep within the halls of the pin should be an @Coles2 calculation, if I remember correctly what ever the Government spend was, it equated to 50,000 units build for one years spend.
HAP ≠ not social housing, think of it as a deck chair with spots instead of stripes on the supporting canvas.