Tempers flare over issue of vacant houses
TEMPERS flared as the topic of housing was raised at this month’s meeting of Wexford County Council. With vacant houses in need of repair forming the main part of the discussion, things got so heated that Chairman Michael Sheehan called a tea-break early for people to calm down, leading Cllr Ger Carthy to hop out of his seat and say: ‘See? They don’t care about housing. They care more about getting a cup of tea!’
It was Cllr Carthy who raised the issue initially, suggesting that the council was at ‘crisis point’ and recommending that a supplementary budget be put in place to deal with houses that are currently vacant and have fallen into disrepair, to get them back in use.
‘We’re losing around €7,000 per week on this,’ he said. ‘We’re told we have around 70 houses vacant in town; I’m led to believe it could be even double that. This is a crisis. We under-budgeted in the amalgamation of the local authority and now we’re paying for it.’
Addressing the 72 vacant houses, Council Chief Executive Tom Enright said: ‘A lot of this is down to economics. The cost of refurbishing these vacant houses can be excessive. We’re in discussion with the department to see if we can get more funding. The question is - are we better off building new houses or taking on the cost of refurbishing houses? That’s the debate. The problem arises when you have major issues with a house and it can cost €30,000 to €50,000.’
Cllr Carthy was not to be put off with this answer though.
‘I’m led to believe we don’t even have the money to paint the houses,’ he said. ‘I want the facts here. Let’s throw the cards on the table. Are we going to sit on our hands on this until a government is formed or what? To build new houses, you’re talking two years before you even get to stage four. We have to do something. We can’t sit on our hands when people are in desperate need of houses and we have 70 houses in our stock vacant.’
‘ Those that can be turned around will be,’ Mr Enright assured Cllr Carthy. ‘It’s where major work is required that the issue arises. We’re trying to provide the best quality houses. Maybe it makes sense to dispose of the houses that require big work and let somebody else take it on.’
‘So we have 72 houses that are in bits and past the point of no return then? Cllr Carthy asked, growing more irate.
‘Some of them are, yes,’ replied Mr Enright. ‘Well what are we going to do with the rest of them that aren’t then?’
Cllr Davy Hynes believes that the council is being stymied in red tape.
‘ There’s people out there begging for houses,’ he said. ‘Even if it means that they have to do them up themselves. We need to take a more proactive approach.’
Cllr Jackser Owens shared his own experience of the housing list.
‘I’ve been a housing applicant and I’ve had to live in a caravan for four years while I was waiting,’ he said. ‘In the build-up to the election, everyone was going to build houses. Now that it’s over, lets spend it and get it done!’
Cllr Jim Codd blasted a perceived lack of urgency. ‘ This hasn’t arrived on us today,’ he said. ‘We need to make decisions now. It’s a terrible advertisement for the council when we have boarded up houses with people outside who are in desperate need looking at them.’
Cllr George Lawlor said that he had been told it was costing around €22,500 per house to fix up houses and that some were being left in such a bad state that a cleaning bill alone was coming to around €8,500. He urged the council to employ local contractors where possible to keep costs down.
‘If it’s costing €20k to €40k to do up these houses, I don’t know what kind of job they’re doing,’ said Cllr Codd. ‘We’re in a position where we’re having meetings about having meetings. This needs to move faster.’
With tempers flaring, Mr Enright urged the members to hold off on any action until he returned with a complete up to date list of vacant houses, what the issues with them are and an estimated cost of repair.