‘Mixed’ take-up of low-cost sites

KERRY County Council, which has more than 470 applicants on waiting lists for houses, has reported a ‘mixed’ take-up of low-cost sites.

Sixteen sites were offered and four in Caherciveen were taken up immediately.

However, there has been a slower demand for seven sites in Abbeydorney and five in Firies.

The high cost of building land has made it difficult for the council to purchase land for housing, especially in areas such Killarney where the council has been outbid on three occasions recently by private developers.

Lone parents with dependant children make up a third of the people being housed by the council, which accommodated 218 families in 2002, with one-person households accounting for a further third.

The council is presently attempting to acquire landbanks in smaller towns and villages.

It currently has 155 acres for housing and land has also recently been acquired in Causeway, Duagh and Moyvane.

Voluntary bodies are playing an increasingly important role in social housing and completed 69 houses in 2002.

The biggest scheme of this kind involved 36 dwellings by the Cluid Housing Association, in Killarney, followed by 10 units built by the Kerry Parents and Friends, in Castleisland.

A traveller accommodation programme is also underway in Kerry, with the council’s director of housing, Philip O’Sullivan, describing it as an important issue in recent years.

There are currently 211 travellers in local authority houses in Kerry and a further 24 in halting sites.