Housing System Has Fallen Apart – O’Leary

Housing System Has Fallen Apart – O’Leary

The city council’s system of housing provision has fallen apart, and Sinn Féin councillors along with Jonathan O’Brien TD have written to the City Manager requesting an immediate meeting with him and his top housing officials, according to Cllr Chris O’Leary.

Over the past year:

· The number on the waiting list for social housing has increased to 8,931
· The number of vacant houses awaiting repair has risen to 459
· The capital budget for housing has been reduced, and government funding for maintenance and extensions has fallen from €625,000 in 2010 to €558,084 for 2011. Recently the Manager proposed even deeper cuts in maintenance.
· Motions passed by the council to introduce a charter of rights for tenants and to shift the allocations system to a points-based one which would be accessible to members of the public have not been implemented

Cllr O’Leary said:

“At this point, the system of housing provision within Cork City Council has quite simply fallen apart.”

“The government recruitment embargo and budget cuts have left the city council unable to deliver on housing, But even in the areas where the council could make a difference, it is falling down.”

“In the past year Sinn Féin councillors succeeded in having two important motions on housing passed by the council. One would have introduced a charter of rights for housing tenants and housing applicants. This would have guaranteed them a minimum standard of treatment from council officials, so that, for example, voice messages and letters would be acknowledged and people would be informed about the progress of their application. The second motion mandated the introduction of a transparent, points based system under which housing applicants would be given a private PIN number that would let them see how long they stood to wait for a house and where they were on the list. It is the absence of this kind of information which many applicants find most frustrating.”

“Despite these motions being agreed by the council, nothing has been done to implement them by the housing department.”

“The council’s housing department is now a black hole into which claims disappear and from which no information can be extracted. Housing applicants and tenants are routinely treated by officials in a way that denies them the most basic dignity. Elected members making representations on behalf of constituents are finding it impossible to get a response. Letters and phone calls go unacknowledged, and an automated response system which was introduced last year does not work.”

“I have now written to the City Manager, on behalf of the Sinn Féin council team and Deputy Jonathan O’Brien, to request an immediate meeting with himself and the top officials in the housing department. The shambolic farce that is housing provision in Cork City Council cannot be tolerated any longer. The Manager needs to accept that the system has broken down, and begin a radical overhaul of the department’s proceedures.”

For further information or comment contact Cllr Chris O’Leary @ 087-2794307