Fifty six households facing eviction in Cork City being helped by homeless services

Tenants in receipt of Hap have been more than twice as likely to be affected by the lifting of the eviction ban than those paying for their own private rental.

Some 56 households affected by the Government’s lifting of the moratorium on evictions have been referred to Cork City Council’s Accommodation Placement Service since the eviction ban was lifted, the latest local authority figures show.

These households are comprised of an unknown number of adults and children. They are facing varying dates between April and October by which they will have to leave their accommodation.

Of these, 26 households were issued notices of termination with dates in April — 11 of these have already been allocated council housing or it is planned they will remain in their homes under the Tenant In Situ scheme.

The remaining 30 households face leaving their accommodation in the coming months.

These figures only reflect those with valid notices of termination who have been referred by housing NGO Threshold to Cork City Council’s Accommodation Placement Service because they are at risk of homelessness.

The figures were presented in a report to a special sitting of Cork City Council’s housing committee, which was held to discuss the council’s preparedness to deal with additional housing need arising from the controversial decision to lift the eviction ban this month.

336 notices of termination served in Cork City and county 

Across Cork City, 144 households have been issued with notices to quit, just under 1% of the 15,499 tenancies recorded by the Rental Tenancies Board (RTB).

Three hundred and thirty six valid notices of termination have been served across Cork City and Cork county since the ban was lifted.

This is fewer notices to date than had been feared. The RTB had recorded 475 notices of termination issued in Cork City and county in Q4 of 2022 alone: termination notices issued between October 30, 2022, and March 31, 2023, had been postponed by the moratorium and are now active again.

However, it may not be the complete picture as the RTB’s figures rely on landlords self-reporting when they serve notices of termination.

HAP tenants doubly likely to be given a notice of termination 

Some 64 valid notices of termination have been issued to Cork City households in receipt of local authority Hap (Housing Assistance Payment) or Ras (Rental Accommodation Scheme) payments, meaning 2.2% of the city’s 2,956 Hap and Ras tenants have been given a date to leave their accommodation.

This means tenants in receipt of Hap have been more than twice as likely to be affected by the lifting of the eviction ban than those paying for their own private rental.