Charity plans to develop €1m apartment project

Cork Simon is planning to develop a €1m apartment project in the heart of Cork City to help break the cycle of long-term homelessness.

The charity will submit a planning application to Cork City Council this week seeking permission to alter and extend the St Joachim and Anne’s building on Anglesea St to accommodate eight one-bedroom, self-contained apartments, and ancillary office and staff facilities.

The flats, all with their own entrance, would serve as long-term and secure housing for people who were formerly homeless.

All tenants would have a tenancy agreement and have ongoing visiting support from Cork Simon’s housing support team.

St Joachim & Anne’s is a protected building dating from 1860. It was built to the design of Cork architect Henry Hill, who designed the Queen’s Old Castle, among other works.

It retains many of its original internal features and its street boundary walls, railings, and gardens.

It has always served as a residential care home — as an alms house, an asylum for “distressed females”, and as a self-catering home for elderly women.

More recently, the building was managed by O’Connell Court, which provided social housing for 16 vulnerable people on site.

However, O’Connell Court felt it could no longer afford its upkeep and asked Cork Simon to take it over on condition it would continue to be used for social housing.

“We accepted the offer. Our plans are sensitive to the existing structure of the building, maintaining the integrity of the conservation aspects,” said a Cork Simon spokesperson.

The front of the building and the southside elevation (both facing Anglesea Terrace), and its boundary walls, railings, and gardens would be retained, if planning permission is approved, with the project expected to take up to seven months to complete.

The project would be funded mainly under the environment department’s capital assistance scheme.

The most recent figures show the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom property in Cork City has increased from €870 in May 2015 to €925 last month.

The average monthly rent for a two-bedroom property in the city increased from €1,083 in May 2015 to €1,165 last month.

The rent supplement limit for a single person in the city is €485 per month, and €575 per month for a couple, limits unchanged since June 2013. “Last month, there was not one property to rent within either of these limits,” said the Simon spokesman.

Last year, just 10 people were able to leave Cork Simon’s emergency shelter by securing housing in the private rented market.

The charity was able to house 71 people in its five high-support houses, 41 people in its 27 flats, and 16 people in a Cork Rentals flat — a social rentals scheme where the charity rents properties directly from landlords and sublets them to those who are long-term homeless.