Kilkenny housing list shrinking - but rentals not coming back to market

Despite a long housing list and a current rental accommodation crisis, the lack of mains and wastewater infrastructure is a barrier to the provision of local authority housing in some parts of County Kilkenny.

In the Callan Thomastown municipal district alone there are constraints on development due to water supply in Bennettsbridge, Graignamanagh, Kells and Stoneyford.

Inistioge is hampered in housing development because of shortcomings in wastewater infrastructure.
“That is a lot of areas impacted, and we haven’t found a way around it,” according to Director of Services in the Housing Section of Kilkenny County Council, to Mary Mulholland.

A number of housing applications have been refused in Graignamanagh for this reason. A site owned by the local authority in the town can’t be developed until the water issue is resolved.
Ms Mulholland was reporting to councillors in the Callan Thomastown municipal district at their April meeting.

While Ms Mulholland told councillors that the housing list numbers are reducing, overall, and more than 60 houses are close to completion in the district, there are still a sizable number of people looking for local authority homes in the area.

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Based on first preferences alone, there is currently a need for 56 homes in Callan, 34 in Thomastown, 17 in Bennettsbridge and 24 in Graignamanagh, as well as needs in other areas.

New applications are coming into the County Council at a rate of 90 a month now - up from 30/40 a month.
Across the county at least 700 local authority homes are needed. When requested transfers, between areas or for special needs housing, are included that rises to 1,500 homes.

Projects in the pipeline include 25 houses at Legan Close, Thomastown, which are due to be completed in July, and 43 houses at Ladyswell, Thomastown.

These developments have a good mix of accommodation, to reflect demand, Ms Mulholland said.
Under the Planning and Development Act 10% of housing in private developments must be allocated to social housing. Ms Mulholland said in two developments in Callan the local authority is currently seeking more than that 10%.

However, the allocation of these houses is not expected to see a similar amount of rented accommodation become available in the area.

In recent years, Ms Mulholland said, only about 10% of rentals freed up by local authority allocations came back onto the HAP rental market.

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The county council does contact landlords and offer to source HAP tenants for them, she added.
On the day of the meeting there were 42 people in emergency accommodation in the county.

Ms Mulholland said that unlike other counties, Kilkenny does have capacity to cope with this and can offer temporary local authority housing if hotels are full. Families are prioritised for ‘front door’ accommodation rather than hotels, if possible.

Ms Mullholland said her department allocates houses with fairness and equity. At the moment they are required to prioritise people who have been given notice to quit their accommodation. “Our priority is to keep families out of homelessness,” she said. “We have done that so far, it is challenging. It means we have done something right.”

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She appealed to any landlords thinking of entering the HAP scheme to contact the County Council, as they have a waiting list of tenants, and she urged tenants who need help to contact the housing department as soon as possible.

There is a positive note in the housing figures - despite 14 unfilled roles in the housing department and the current accommodation crisis, Kilkenny County Council has worked to bring the overall housing list down from over 2,300 applications to 1,500 applications.