Legal process still delaying emergency homeless accommodation for Tipperary
Plans to provide emergency homeless accommodation in Tipperary remain tied up in the legal process to purchase a property, councillors have been told.
The Irish Independent previously reported that Tipperary County Council had gone sale agreed on a property in the town for emergency homeless accommodation.
At the July meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District, Fine Gael councillor John Crosse asked the council’s housing section if there had been any updates on the plans to create own-door homeless accommodation in Tipperary town.
“I know members are wondering where that accommodation is, or are we still tied on what we can say about that situation?” he asked.
In response, a representative from the council’s housing section said that the legal process to purchase the property was still ongoing.
“In relation to the property in Tipperary town, it’s still going through the legals and due diligence, so it’s the same position as it was last March when we spoke to the plenary meeting,” she said.
Previously, Jonathon Cooney, the council’s director of services for housing, confirmed that the local authority had gone sale agreed on a property in Tipperary town, but that it would be a number of months before the property is ready.
“Last year we said we were looking at setting up a 9-9 in Tipperary town, and that was one of our targets, and an Approved Housing Body (AHB), working in conjunction with ourselves in the council, have gone sale agreed on a property in Tipperary town,” councillors were told.
A 9-9 service is a form of emergency accommodation that offers people who are homeless a bed in a hostel from 9pm to 9am.
“It’ll be a slightly different model from usual 9-9s in different places, there’s a number of different areas in the homeless supports that we can provide, and a 9-9 is for a particular cohort, and not every town has the same issues, or needs a 9-9, there’s a number of different measures,” Mr Cooney explained.
Concerns had been raised by councillors locally about the suitability of 9-9 accommodation in the town, but in December it was confirmed that the facility will operate under a different model.
“At present, the high priority for Tipperary town is for an own-front-door type of accommodation, that is not a 9-9 hostel-type accommodation, it’s most acute for single people in the town,” councillors were told.