‘Dream come true’ as one of Louth’s largest social housing schemes to welcome first tenants

By Olivia Ryan, The Drogheda Independent

The launch of thirteen new homes at one of County Louth’s largest social housing developments has been welcomed as “a dream come true” for local families.

The completion of the first tranche of high-quality social housing units within Boice Court (Phase 2) development at Mell, Drogheda was announced by Louth County Council.

The 13 units consist of five two-bed apartments, six three-bed houses and two four-bed houses, will be allocated via the Choice Based Letting portal.

They are part of a €27m construction project which began in 2023, and when complete will deliver 72 new social houses, funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

The overall design features a total of 31 houses, 25 apartments and 16 duplex units. A further two three bed-detached bungalows, designed with input from HSE Occupational Therapists are set to be included along with 10 two-bed accessible ground floor apartments designed with the needs of older people in mind.

A council spokesman said: “These new homes represent another significant step forward in addressing local housing needs and supporting families in our community.”

Louth TD Joanna Byrne welcomed the launch of the first 13 houses in Phase 2, saying: “I know people who have been offered their forever homes here in recent weeks when they were advertised and to those families is is simple a dream come true.”

Deputy Byrne explained that during her time as councillor in Louth “this was a project I was heavily invested in.”

“I was involved in the amalgamation of Phase 2, 3 and 4 right back to 2017 and on many occasions, over many years, when this was the only Council-led project for delivering social housing in Drogheda, I kept this development to the fore and ensured any stalls or challenges (of which there were a few) were overcome.”

She added: “I’m delighted to see it finally coming to fruition and need to thank the developers for their respect for sitting residents in the original phase, and for their engagement with me, and with them throughout the whole development timeline.”