Cork City housing units still vacant nine months after completion 

Mandaville Place on the Pouladuff Road, Cork, was officially opened on June 21, 2022. Picture Dan Linehan

Social housing units able to accommodate 17 people remain vacant nine months after they were launched in a Cork City Council ribbon-cutting ceremony.

A total of 11 apartments at Mandeville Place on the Pouladuff Road in Cork City’s southside, made up of five one-bed units and six two-bed units, still do not have any occupants. 

Homes at Mandeville Place are being allocated by Cork City Council and are specially designed for social housing applicants over the age of 60. Picture: Dan Linehan

The city’s former lord mayor, who cut the ribbon on the project last June, said the length of time it was taking for new residents to move in was “disappointing”. 

 “When I opened them, I was advised that they were a week away from being habitable and that they were just working through a final snag-list,” Cllr Colm Kelleher told the Irish Examiner.

I would have to ask questions as to why it has taken this long in a housing crisis, why ready-to-go habitable housing stock is waiting nine months to be allocated. It’s disappointing, to be honest.”

Built by Bantry construction firm Cetti Ltd and due to be managed by housing body Tuath Housing, the homes at Mandeville Place are being allocated by Cork City Council and are specially designed for social housing applicants over the age of 60.

Rightsizing initiative

They are part of the local authority’s “rightsizing” initiative, designed to encourage older social housing recipients to move to smaller homes and free up larger ones for families in need of more space.

Delays in allocating the homes has in part been caused by the specifics of the scheme, according to a Cork City Council spokesperson.

“Rightsizing applicants can sometimes take longer to progress, as rightsizing itself is a process that takes time,” they said in a statement to the Irish Examiner. 

“As this is a development for older persons, it is being tenanted outside of the Choice Based Letting system.” 

The tenant selection process is nearly complete and new residents will be able to move in to Mandeville Place “in the coming weeks”, they said.

Former lord mayor Cllr Colm Kelleher, who cut the ribbon on the project last June, said the length of time it was taking for new residents to move in was 'disappointing'. Picture: Alison Miles /OSM 

But Cllr Kelleher expressed frustration at the length of time involved in filling the units.

“I understand they’re for downsizing, for people leaving larger homes and bringing larger stock back into the system for families, but we’re nine months on and they’re still not allocated,” he said. “They’re essentially stock on the shelf.”

The 11 units at Mandeville Place were part of a tranche of 106 housing units launched in Cork City on June 21 last year. All of the other homes officially launched on that day, including 66 houses at Shournagh Grove in Togher, and 16 on the Skehard Road, are now fully occupied.

Concerns over the delay in occupying Mandeville Place come as Cork City Council and other local authorities prepare for the impact of the Government's lifting of the ban on evictions.

The eviction ban was in place since October 30, 2022, meaning any eviction notices served after that date are now set to come into force and charities are warning of a "tsunami" of homelessness.

A total of 4,329 households across the country were served an eviction notice in the last quarter of 2022, according to data from the Residential Tenancies Board, including 475 tenants in Cork City and county.

More than 520 adults were in emergency accommodation in Cork City and county in February of this year, according to the Department of Housing’s latest homelessness report.

A total of 80 families, with 149 children, were in emergency accommodation in the South-West region, which includes Cork and Kerry.