‘This is not the time for protests’ – Wexford council calls for calm as it investigates eviction notices

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The residents at the centre of a mass eviction in Bridgetown, Co Wexford have been urged not to protest outside County Hall while they await a resolution to their housing issues.

Last Friday, 36 homes in Hazelwood were issued with notices to quit and, three days later, staff from Wexford County Council (WCC) met with those affected to discuss potential solutions should the families be evicted from their homes.

With this in mind, cathaoirleach of the Rosslare Municipal District (RMD) Councillor Ger Carthy, has called for calm amid suggestions some of the residents intended to turn up en masse outside Wexford County Hall before next Monday’s council meeting.

“This is not of WCC’s making, it’s down to a private landlord and we’re not fully sure of his intentions right now,” he said at a special meeting which had been called to discuss the ongoing crisis in Bridgetown. “Our job is to support the tenants affected by the notice to quit and I certainly won’t be in the business of stoking discontent or protest, this is about managing the expectations of the families in Bridgetown.

"We as councillors have to be careful how we manage this, no one in this room, elected or otherwirse, is responsible for what’s happened. I won’t support any protests but I will support the council in its negotiations with the Residencial Tenancites Board (RTB).”

Those negotiations now take centre stage with director of housing with WCC, Carolyne Godkin, stating that a number of households in Hazelwood have “lodged disputes with the RTB” and “those processes will take a number of weeks to resolve”.

As the organisation responsible for regulating the private sector, Ms Godkin confirmed that the RTB would be reaching out to the landlord, Martin Sinnott, and that, in the interim, WCC would continue to identify “alternative options” for the families should they be evicted.

Cllr Lisa McDonald also called for calm as she reminded her colleagues that, under housing legislation, it still wasn’t clear whether Mr Sinnott had breached the Tyrellstown Amendment.

The RTB stated on Monday that it has written to Mr SInnott’s company, Patchflow Ltd to “remind (it) of its obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act and the Tyrrellstown Amendment” which advises that eviction notices cannot be served on more than 10 properties in the same development, except in very limited circumstances. This amendment was brought in to “protect tenants from losing their homes due to large-scale property sales”.

“Under the Tyrellstown Amendment he is not in a position to sell in bulk unless he can prove that applying these restrictions would cause ‘undue hardship’ or he can demonstrate that the market value of the property sold with tenants in situ is more than 20 pc below the market value that could be obtained with vacant possession.,” said Cllr McDonald. “It does appear that there is a breach but that will be dealt with by the RTB.

“I don’t think there’s any need to drag the residents into a protest, it’s solutions we need to look at, and each and every one of them is in a different situation in terms of their eligibility for social housing. The landlord doesn’t want to be involved in this estate any longer, that is his choice and it is a free economy, we have to remember that.”

The officials from the Housing Department of Wexford County Council met with the residents from Hazelwood in Bridgetown on a one-to-one basis in the FDYS Centre on Monday. Photo: Jim Campbell

Something which Cllr McDonald was keen to stress was that new housing legislations, which came into effect on March 1 and are designed to strengthen tenant security, did not factor into the Bridgetown situation.

“The Tyrellstown Amendment says the properties can be sold, in bulk, with the tenants in situ. If the landlord wants to sell them in groups of nine every six months then those tenancies will naturally end and the houses will be sold. But the new legisation doesn’t factor into this.”

While a potential breach of housing laws would work in the favour of those who fear losing their homes, Cllr Jim Codd stressed that, regardless, the some 100 people affected remain in a “very vulnerable position”.

“Is there a safety net for them?” he asked. “This could cause a rupture of that community. Because the reality is that houses aren’t there for them in our district.”

However, Ms Godkin said that until the RTB made its rulings, the council’s housing staff could only offer advice to the families.

“Each family has individual circumstances that we need to respond to, any action we take will be based on the fact that the tenancy may end, until we have clarity on that we can't action any other supports,” she explained. “A lot of it hinges on the notice of termination. We have to wait for the outcome of the RTB process.

"Two thirds of those familiies don’t qualify for social housing supports, they may qualify for mortages so we will support them to enter that pathway,”

“They are the working poor,” said Cllr Codd, “they cannot get a mortgage either.”

“We don’t know if some of those families have mortgage potential,” replied Ms Godkin. “Some of them do, if they don’t there are schemes we can refer them to.”

Cllr Aoife Rose O'Brien, with some of the residents from Hazelwood in Bridgetown, who are unsure of their future housing situation on Monday. Photo: Jim Campbell

With Cllr Frank Staples praising the housing staff for their work and calling upon both councillors and officials to continue to support the families, Cllr Aoife Rose O’Brien asked whether there was money available to buy the properties from Mr Sinnott so that the residents could continue to live there.

Advising that any such funds would be provided by t he Housing Agency, senior executive officer Stephen O’Connor said there were certain restrictions in place for those who wanted to have their homes bought out by the State.

“This is a scheme for people outside of the normal threshold for social housing, the income limit for people in Co Wexford is €59,000 per annum,” he said. “It involves a homeless assessment, then we make a referral to The Housing Agency. It then works with the landlord and looks at buying the property and, if it does, the tenant rents it through The Housing Agency”

Concerned that Mr Sinnott could circumnavigate the rules and sell the houses in smaller batches, Cllr O’Brien was keen to ensure that supports were in place in advance of any evictions.

“There’s nothing preventing this landlord from evicting nine tenants at a time and we really need to look forward and have supports in place for those impacted if that happens,” she said as she queried whether there were any affordable housing schemes coming on stream in the RMD.

After Cllr Carthy proposed that some of the houses in a new development in Kilrane (16.3km away) be made available as part of an affordable scheme, Cllr McDonald highlighted the difficulty those in Bridgetown would have in applying for such properties.

“Those livingi within 15km of the affordable housing site are given first preference, this makes it difficult for the Bridgetown families. We’re caught because we don’t yet have any affordable housing schemes in the RMD.”