Wexford County Council rejects suggestion it is ‘taking people out of the market’ by purchasing new builds from developers

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Concerns that Wexford County Council (WCC) is effectively competing against first-time buyers by purchasing newly-finished houses have been dismissed by the council’s chief executive. While WCC has repeatedly stated it is exceeding the social housing targets set out under the government’s Housing For All initiative, Councillor Pat Barden used the monthly meeting of the council to ask whether those targets were being met at the cost of private buyers.

“How many of the houses we’re purchasing are turnkey developments that were built by developers?” asked Cllr Barden. “And how many have come from developments we built ourselves? By purchasing these turnkey houses we’re taking people out of the market, we’re competing with people who are trying to buy their own homes, they’re having to compete against the council.”

A turnkey housing arrangement refers to the purchase of a newly-built or fully-renovated property, ready for immediate occupancy, often by a local authority or housing association for social or affordable housing. And chief executive of WCC, Eddie Taaffe, said the local council was very particular in how it approached offers to purchase turnkey properties in bulk.

“Turnkeys do form part of our development programme, however, we are increasing our direct builds and, as a result, we will be reducing the percentage of turnkeys we’re purchasing,” he said. “When we we’re offered turnkeys we never take the full amount, we take the minimum number because we don’t think it’s fair to the market for us to take the full allocation.

"And we generally don’t take three-bed properties for two reasons; our social housing demand isn’t as high for those, and there’s less risk that we’ll be competing against first-time buyers.”

While Mr Taaffe didn’t have the figures Cllr Barden requested to hand, he did have a quite forthright response to an allegation issued by Cllr John Dwyer who took issue with the suggestion there was limited demand for three-bed properties in Wexford.

“That’s quite an astonishing statement on behalf of the chief executive, to say there’s no need for three-bed properties,” said Cllr Dwyer. “Many people I am coming into contact with are looking for three-bed properties and some of them are on the housing list for up to seven years. And judging by the comments made at this meeting those people have no hope for the future.”

“78 per cent of those on our social housing waiting list are looking for one and two-bed properties,” replied Mr Taaffe. “I didn’t say we weren’t acquiring three-beds, simply that we’re tailoring our acquisitions to where the demand is. I take exception to that allegation.”