Concern over ‘tsunami’ of evictions in Fingal in the run-up to Christmas
Social housing tenants are being faced with a “tsunami” of termination notices in the run-up to Christmas despite some apartments being left unoccupied in Fingal, a councillor has warned.
In response to an audit report from Fingal County Council (FCC), Solidarity councillor for Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart John Burtchaell raised concerns about a number of unoccupied apartments in the county – despite a number of its tenants being faced with termination.
“I know a family at imminent risk of homelessness on December 20. I have heard from another family who were physically evicted a number of days back who have rented the same house since 2009,” Mr Burtchaell said.
“I tried to get the council to buy the house through the Tenant in Situ purchase scheme but funding was cut at the time. The family couldn’t find anywhere else.
“They went through RTB [the Residential Tenancies Board] and the courts but were given a notice to vacate. They couldn’t even find emergency accommodation which would have been their last resort.”
This is the brutal reality of the housing crisis on the ground
He said “10 to 12 bailiffs came one morning” and that one of the family members was on the street in their pyjamas.
"This is the brutal reality of the housing crisis on the ground,” he added.
Fingal County Council’s audit report outlined that 162 unsold apartments in Dublin 15 were allocated to approved housing bodies, the councillor said.
“What is the status of those unoccupied units – how many are still unoccupied in the teeth of a housing crisis?” Mr Burtchaell asked at a recent council meeting.
Today's News in 90 Seconds - Monday, December 22
“We’ve seen a tsunami of notices of termination. We have a family with a court order to vacate their apartment just five days before Christmas.”
Fingal County Council director of housing and community development Paul Carroll said that the properties were being used to re-house tenants. “It’s a project we’re working on at the moment – we’ve recently commenced a pilot study to undertake structural remediation works to units in our ownership,” he said.
“We have a number of vacant units being used to rehouse some of the tenants affected by those works, so we have to have some vacant units to ensure that we can carry out the required works.”
Mr Carroll noted that the issue of the unoccupied units had been raised in previous years at other council meetings.
“It’s been raised over the last couple of years, we have a plan in place to rectify the situation and bring it all back into social and cost-rental use,” he said.
Mr Burtchaell said that over 40 units were still allowed to be vacant despite a demand for social housing in the county.
“Around 120 of the homes were rented out through a management company. That means over 40 of the remaining empty units were left vacant in the thick of the housing crisis,” he said.
When councillors at the meeting asked when the properties will be converted into social and cost-rental housing, Mr Carroll said that it would be determined based on the projected costs for the project.
“The pilot programme is under way on a number of blocks, we need to see what issues arise and ascertain the costs and scope of the work involved,” Mr Carroll said.