City’s council housing waiting list grows to 8,230

MORE than 8,230 people are on a waiting list for local authority housing in Cork city, new figures have revealed.

According to city council officials there are 8,680 local authority houses in the city, 423 of which are vacant for one reason or another.

Of the latter, 46 are vacant for refurbishment, 152 are under repair, 52 are under offer, 16 are newly vacant, 129 are vacant for contract repairs and 18 are on legal hold.

One couple, Noreen and Gerry Kelly, maintain they have been on the list for years and are desperate for a house. Mr Kelly said they could not get any answers out of the city council regarding if and when they might get a house.

“I have been on the housing list for about 10 years,” Mr Kelly said. “Noreen and myself are together five years and we have been on the list together since then.”

Mr Kelly said the couple are renting a small unhygienic one-bedroomed flat.

When Mr Kelly’s five children come to visit his wife has to sleep elsewhere, he said.

“We will take any house. We don’t mind where it is. There are hundreds of houses boarded up around the city. We don’t understand what the problem is. We are living in a one-bedroomed flat. I have five kids who come and visit me and we no matter how much you clean (it) it gets damp and dirty again straight away.”

According to the council, up to the end of October 322 houses have been allocated this year.

Under the council’s letting rules, there are cases which may be prioritised, such as homeless people, people living in overcrowded or unfit accommodation, people in need of housing on medical, compassionate or other similar grounds, and people who in the opinion of the city council are not able to reasonably meet the cost of the accommodation they are occupying, or are financially unable to obtain suitable alternative accommodation.

Local authorities around the country are struggling to deal with a swelling of numbers on housing lists since the recession began to bite.

It is estimated there are almost 100,000 families on housing lists throughout the country, many of whom have to rely on rent support from the HSE and the Department of Social and Family Affairs.