Cork County Council to deliver 560 new homes by year's end

New council houses are being delivered through a combination of direct builds and 'turnkey acquisitions' from developers 

As well as inviting applications under the affordable housing scheme, Cork County Council is to buy 58 homes in Carrigaline, 35 in Youghal, 25 in Watergrasshill,  and 10 in Killeagh.  Stock picture

Cork County Council is set to deliver around 560 new council homes by the end of this year at a cost of €51.5m. They are being built by the council or purchased as ‘turnkey acquisitions’, from developers.

News of the new homes — as well as measures to improve insulation and provide affordable units to people in limbo between qualifying for council homes and getting mortgages — was welcomed by councillors attending the Southern Division meeting.

The news was contained in a report delivered by the council’s director of housing Maurice Manning. He said the council had delivered 1,585 units between 2018 and 2021, and added that it plans to deliver 560 new homes this year, of which 147 have already been completed.

Most of the new homes are being built in higher-population areas.

The council is to buy 58 homes at Kilmoney, Carrigaline, and 35 at Sweetfields, Youghal, from developers. It purchased a further 25 in the village of Watergrasshill and 10 in Killeagh. A number of smaller schemes are underway in smaller villages.

Mr Manning said the council is also acquiring properties under the buy and renew scheme under which encourages people who own vacant or run-down properties to hand them over, if suitable, to the local authority for social housing.

As of last month, a total of 1,220 properties around the county have been identified for possible acquisition.

Mr Manning said that, to date, 63 acquisitions have been made by the council and currently his officials are examining the suitability of a further 109.

Affordable housing scheme

The council is also looking at building homes under the affordable housing scheme for people who earn too much to qualify for social housing but too little to get mortgage approval.

The council got 2,734 responses from people looking for such homes, which will be built by the council but sold to approved applicants at less than the market value.

Mr Manning said the biggest number of applicants came from Carrigaline, Midleton, Carrigtwohill, Cobh, Kinsale, and Mallow.

However, Fine Gael councillor Anthony Barry said while suitable sites for such projects had been identified in most towns, this was not the case in Carrigtwohill.

He said the highest number of respondents for the scheme per head of population came from Carrigtwohill and therefore it is imperative that a suitable site be identified there quickly.

Mr Manning assured Mr Barry this is being looked at by the housing directorate. He said the Affordable Housing survey “will inform future housing provision and the tailoring of future scheme areas by targeting our resources to the areas of highest demand.”