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Home > Publications > Annual Report 2001 > Housing and Building

Housing and Building

The Housing section of Sligo County Council provides a number of very important functions, covering every aspect of social housing:

  • Helping people who are in need of housing and who cannot afford it from their own resources. 
  • Provision/management of traveller accommodation.
  • Liaising with approved voluntary housing organisations and other agencies in the provision of accommodation.
  • Encouragement of home ownership through shared ownership, tenant purchase, affordable housing and various loan options.
  • Monitoring standards with regard to private rented dwellings.

Housing Construction

The Capital allocation from the Department of the Environment and Local Government for 2001 was made up as follows:
Local Authority Programme    £4,000,000
Residential Caravans                £100,000 
Remedial Works                         £60,000  
                                          £4,160,000 

Because of the level of activity in the Construction Programme, the Council received additional funding from the Department to bring the allocation up to £6,483,700.

The end of 2001 marked the half way stage in the Council’s Multi-annual Housing Programme. The target for the 4 year programme is 240 "starts" and the number achieved by the end of 2001 was 141.

Completed 2001  
 - Easkey 5 
 - Keash 4  
 - Strandhill 8

In Progress
 - Geevagh 8
 - Grange 14
 - Coolaney 8

Nearing Completion
 - Ballisodare 10
 - Collooney 10 
 - Ballymote 18

The Council continued its policy of purchasing on the open market with houses being purchased in Collooney and Tubbercurry

Housing Loans

People who wish to purchase or build a house but cannot get a loan from a building society, bank etc, may be eligible for a loan from a Local Authority. The maximum house purchase loan is £100,000 and in 2001, Sligo County Council paid out £66,500 in house purchase, construction and reconstruction.

Loans Approvals 2000

Purchases 1
Construction  1
Reconstruction 7

Loans Approvals 2001

Purchases 2
Construction  1
Reconstruction 4

Loans Payments 2000

Construction  £120,000 - 2 houses
Tenant Purchase  £157,721 - 15 houses
Reconstruction £45,486 - 12 houses

Loans Payments 2001

Construction  £44,000 - 1 houses
Tenant Purchase  £92,270 - 4 houses
Reconstruction £22,500 - 4 houses

In 2001, fourteen houses were sold with 4 only obtaining County Council loans.

Tenant Purchase

Tenants of local authority houses for at least one year can apply to purchase their rented house outright or by means of shared ownership under this scheme. The price of the house will be its market value in its existing state of repair and condition, less various discounts.

In 2001, seven loan applications were approved under the scheme compared with four in 2000.

Shared Ownership Scheme

This scheme offers home ownership in a number of steps to those who cannot afford full ownership in one step in the traditional way. Initially, ownership of the house is shared between the shared owner and the Local Authority. In 2001, Sligo County Council was allocated £250,000 to purchase/construct houses under the scheme. Twenty five applications were processed and there were 15 completed transactions. This compares with 7 completed transactions in 2000.


Improvement Works ‘In Lieu’ of Re-housing

This scheme allows Sligo County Council to improve or extend privately owned houses occupied or intended to be occupied by an approved applicant for housing as an alternative to the provision of Local Authority housing. During 2001, twelve houses were upgraded, at an average cost per house of £20,384. The number of houses upgraded is an increase of one on last year.


Affordable Housing

In 2001, a development of 19 houses was completed at Strandhill, Co.Sligo. The houses were built by Noel Regan & Sons, Ishlawn, Ballyderreen Co Roscommon to a very high standard. The prices ranged from £79,500 to £92,500. The price represented excellent value given the standard of the house, the prime location and magnificent views. This was the first development of its kind in the county with mixed Local Authority and Affordable Houses on the one scheme. The residents have formed an association and one of their first tasks completed has been the renaming of the estate Atlantic View.

atlanticview
- Atlantic View Housing

Construction has commenced on the following affordable housing schemes:

Dromore West  6 houses
Colloney         10 houses 
Ballymote       12 houses 
Total            28 houses 

These houses are expected to be completed by mid - 2002.


Estate Management

2001 saw the establishment of the Estate Management function within Sligo County Council. Damien Willis was appointed as Estate Manager in August and this has allowed the introduction a dynamic and caring presence of the Council within estates over the county.

Initially Damien set about forming links with existing resident associations and began to develop mechanisms to form tenant groups where they were not in existence heretofore.

The first tenant training programme was piloted in Strandhill in November and was successful in terms of integrating new residents and clarifying roles and responsibilities.

Housing Strategy

Part V of the Planning & Development Act 2000 required that Housing Strategies be drawn up by Planning Authorities and integrated into their development plans. The Act makes communities’ needs for Social and Affordable housing a material planning consideration which must be taken into account in formulating development plan policies, preparing a housing strategy and deciding on planning applications and appeals.

In preparing the draft strategy, the Council sought submissions from the general public by means of public notices in the local and national media.

A draft Plan was prepared by the Council’s Housing Strategic Policy Committee which was adopted by the Council at a special meeting on 23rd July 2001.

The Strategy outlines the demands for housing within the County and Borough Council areas and in particular the need for social and affordable housing. The Strategy also considered factors relating to the supply of housing in the county and the social and affordable policy implications.

The key conclusions of the Strategy can be summarised as follows:

  • A total of 4832 additional household formations are projected over the period 2001 – 2006.
  • It will be the policy of the Council to receive 20% of land zoned for residential development for social and affordable housing
  • The Strategy encourages a more sustainable approach to rural development and supports the sustaining of rural communities within County Sligo
  • This Strategy will provide a basis for a programme of land zonings within the County area
  • The Housing Strategy also aims to concentrate residential development – where possible – in locations where there is easy access to education, employment and other commercial and community facilities.
  • The provision of a suitable range of housing types and sizes will diminish the uniformity of suburban type development and will facilitate the further integration of social and affordable housing into existing communities.


Homeless Action Plan 2001 - 2003

During the year the Sligo Homeless Forum was extended to include representatives from existing service providers such as the North Western Health Board, Sligo Social Services, Sligo County Council, Sligo Corporation, St. Vincent de Paul, Finisklin Housing Association, Co. Sligo VEC, Sligo Gardai, Probation Service. The Forum developed a policy which was approved by the Housing Strategic Policy Committee and involved an interagency response to the issue of homelessness.

The Forum looked at the existing accommodation and services available and also the causes and extent of homelessness in Sligo. The strengths and weaknesses of these services were identified.
The main points of the policy are:

  • That a "seamless service" be developed between local authorities, the North Western Health Board and Voluntary bodies and that the services be reviewed on an ongoing basis so that the actual needs of the homeless rather than the perceived needs are being addressed.
  • Facilities and accommodation for the following categories of need were identified:
    Homeless Men (Indigenous):
    Homeless Men (Transient):
    Homeless Women (transient & local)/Victims of Domestic Violence:
    (a) Discharge from Institutional Care, Voluntary Hostels
    (b) Older persons in institutional care
    Project for Ex-Offenders
    Semi-sheltered Accommodation for 15-20 year old Single Parent Families
    ’Wet House‘ together with trained staff
    Other Accommodation


Housing Maintenance

During the year the Council completed a condition survey of all it‘s housing stock. The condition survey will allow the preparation of a 6 year rolling programme of house repairs and which will feature a portion of expenditure set aside for planned maintenance and a portion set aside for emergency repairs.


Rents

Rents payable on Local Authority dwellings are assessed under a Differential Rents Scheme based on income of the household. During the year rents were reviewed to bring them into line with increase in disposal income and to meet the ever increasing demand for maintenance and estate management initiatives.


Essential Repairs Grants

The principal benefit of this scheme is that it enables structural repairs to be carried out to prolong the life of a house for an elderly resident. The maximum grant available under the Scheme is £6,000 (€7,618) with 2/3 of the cost being recouped from the Department of the Environment & Local Government.

In 2001, 49 approvals were issued during the year and 53 grants were paid out totalling £162,249 (€203,728.21)


Disabled Person’s Grants

The Disabled Person’s Grant Scheme allows Sligo County Council to make a grant for the provision of house adaptions to meet the needs of the household member who is disabled. Due to the ever increasing number of applications, the grants are awarded on a priority basis, with a focus on those cases where the applicant’s disability seriously impacts on their quality of life.

In 2001, the amount payable under the Scheme was £14,000 (€17,776) with 2/3 of the cost being recouped from the Department of the Environment & Local Government.135 approvals were issued during the year and 60 grants were paid out totalling £200,732 (€254,877.06)



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