Housing waiting list shrinks 25% in Kilkenny City over past three years

The demand for housing in Kilkenny City has dropped by over 25% in the past three years according to the figures revealed by Kilkenny County Council.

Members of the Kilkenny City Municipal District were briefed of the data during Monday’s monthly meeting when senior engineer, Eimear Cody delivered a housing capital update.

The figures show that in March 2023 there are 810 people on the housing list in Kilkenny City. A further breakdown reveals that 47% are seeking a one-bed unity, 35% are waiting for a 2 bed unit and 15% have applied for a three bed unit. This is a decrease of over 25% when compared to the housing list in February 2020 when there were 1086 applicants waiting for units.

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Mayor of Kilkenny, David Fitzgerald commended the local authority on the ‘276 drop in three years in a time when there has been a huge increase in the demand for housing’.

Ms Cody told members that there were 172 approved units in the city with work ongoing on site in respect of many of the projects - including 22 units at Nunico Road, 12 units at Blackmill Street, which are due to be completed this year and 88 units at Crokers Hill, which will be finished in 2024. She also outlined that there is plenty of housing activity in the pipeline with ongoing engagement with developers at several sites in the Western Environs and Loughmacask about acquiring units under Part V of planning legislation. Other future projects include the Butts regeneration, the Abbeyquarter, Lacken (HSE lands), underused green spaces and brownfield and vacant sites.

Work is also underway on six units at a brownfield/backyard site at the Old Golf Links Road and a full upgrade is underway ona vacant property at Wolfe Tone Street.

Ms Cody also outlined to members the various tenure types including social housing, market rental, cost rental, affordable purchase and market purchase.

The council engineer also said that there are several challenges posed to the housing sector at present including the cost of construction, the limited local authority owned land in Kilkenny City, achieving an appropriate tenure mix, the availability of contractors and trade and workloads and staff retention. She also outlined a number of positives including the increase in private development and Part V opportunities, the Abbey Quarter, affordable housing delivery and adaptive reuse and brownfield projects.

The Mayor also remarked following the update that while an enormous amount has been achieved over the past few years he has concerns about whether the local authority will be able to meet the demand over the coming years.
“We need to have pipeline of housing to deliver that,” he said.

Councillor Martin Brett said that the ‘situation across the city is that we don’t have any lands owned by ourselves and we need to address this’ and also raised the masterplan for the lands at St Canice’s and asked what the health board is planning to do with the site.

“It is one of the biggest landbanks within the Ring Road,” he added.

Cllr Eugene McGuinness raised the lack of available tradespeople and said that the council needs to engage and employ more people in this area. Cllr McGuinness said that it would appear that two bed units would serve people better as they age and may require assistance in their home.

Cllr Maria Dollard raised the lifting of the eviction ban and asked if the council were aware of people who have been given notice to quit and if there are enough properties to meet this need.

Cllr John Coonan also contributed to the meeting and described the drop in the housing list as ‘a step in the right direction’ and highlighted that they are many vacant sites in Kilkenny that could be potentially used for housing.

Cllr Andrew McGuinness said that it was ‘a positive achievement’ that the housing waiting list has been reduced to 810 and added that the figure is very good when compared to previous years.

Director of Services for Housing at Kilkenny County Council, Mary Mullholland said that it is ‘a concern for us all that there is a finite amount of land it the city’ and added that the local authority will be focused on brownfield and regenerational sites.

“The demand is often by those who are not eligible for social housing and we need to ramp up and deliver in the affordable and cost rental schemes,” she said.

Ms Mullholland also told the meeting that out of the 810 people on the housing waiting list that more than 50% are transfers.

“We are not dealing with preference but need. The vast majority of transfers in the city are related to preference and not need,” she said and added that only transfers for downsizing, for people living with disability and houses where there are overcrowded will be pritorised for transfer,” said Ms Mulholland.