CARRAIG EDEN SALE LEAVES 30 HOMELESS
AS 30 VULNERABLE residents of Carraig Eden receive eviction notices, Wicklow County Council is seeking to reopen negotiations with the owners of the facility to see if they can resolve the situation.
The property is being sold and its residents were given notice last week to vacate by July. The price is believed to be in the region of €3 million.
The building has functioned as safe haven for those reintegrating into society following addiction, as well as those who find themselves unable to find somewhere to live and hoping to transition to permanent housing.
The 30 residents of the Greystones facility are clients of Tiglin who have been through rehabilitation at the drug and alcohol recovery centre in Ashford.
After 11 months in Ashford, they enter the second phase in Greystones, which can vary from six months to three years and helps the men to reintegrate back into mainstream life.
Residents pay €75 a week towards rent, cook for themselves and must either work, go back into education or take up voluntary work.
AS 30 vulnerable residents of Carraig Eden receive eviction notices, Wicklow County Council is seeking to reopen negotiations with the owners of the facility to see if they can resolve the situation.
The property is being sold and its residents were given notice last week, to vacate by July. The price is believed to be in the region of €3 million.
The building has functioned as safe haven for these reintegrating into society following addiction, as well as those who find themselves unable to find somewhere to live and hoping to transition to permanent housing.
The 30 residents of the Greystones facility are clients of Tiglin who have been through rehabilitation at the drug and alcohol recovery centre in Ashford.
After 11 months in Ashford, they enter the second phase in Greystones, which can vary from six months to three years and helps the men to reintegrate back into mainstream life.
Residents pay €75 a week towards rent, will cook for themselves and must either work, or go back into education or take up voluntary work.
Owners have offered residents a rent refund of up to €1,000 to help with their deposit and advance rent on new accommodation.
At a meeting of Wicklow County Council on Monday, Cllr Nicola Lawless asked what the local authority is doing to help in housing the men. She also asked if the council is engaging with the Irish Assemblies of God who own Carraig Eden.
In its report responding to Cllr Lawless, the council said that Tiglin has been operating its housing model in Carraig Eden since 2009 and has succeeded in preventing homelessness in individuals who have taken the necessary steps to rehabilitate and become addiction free.
Accommodation was provided by Tiglin in supported accommodation with progression to either private rented accommodation or social housing.
‘ The housing service Tiglin offers through their residential plan is not something that is being provided for in the county by another approved housing body,’ they said. ‘ Tiglin is positioned to deliver services on a scale that is not yet being achieved in this area.’
The council had proposed to purchase Carraig Eden and develop it further to provide accommodation for homeless people, working with Tiglin to ensure their long term needs were met.
They worked closely with Tiglin and applied for funding to the Department of Housing, Community and Planning to secure €1.7 million to buy the property, and more than €1.3 million for a phased refurbish- ment.
‘ The funding was received on February 16. Unfortunately, the council was subsequently notified by the vendor that this offer would not be accepted.’
The council is also seeking alternative options with Tiglin, but they say it is unlikely that a suitable property will become available at any early stage.
‘ The housing need in north Wicklow in particular is significant,’ said the council. ‘ The recent social housing assessment showed an increase in the housing need for Greystones to over 800 households in need of further support. The situation is further exacerbated by the notices to quit issued to 48 households in Fairfield Park with whom the council is also working to transition into sustainable accommodation.’
A spokeswoman for ‘Christian Churches Ireland’ said yesterday that they and ‘Irish Assemblies of God’ are two different entities, however the following is a quote from the CCI website, which includes Saol Nua at Carraig Eden as one of its churches: ‘ The Assemblies of God Ireland was formed 2006 and has experienced consistent growth. It’s National Leader, National Leadership team and National Council formally adopted a new name of Christian Churches Ireland in November 2016’. The Saol Nua church at Carraig Eden is listed on their website as one of CCI’s churches.
The spokeswoman for CCI said that ‘ The Assemblies of God Ireland’ (CCI’s former name), and ‘Irish Assemblies of God’ (Carraig Eden’s owners), are two different entities. There is no phone number listed nor online presence for ‘Irish Assemblies of God’. A mobile phone number listed for Saol Nua was not answered.
A foundation was formed last year to attempt to raise enough money to purchase Carraig Eden. Board member Noel Kenny said that he feels there is still hope. ‘ There is a part of me that feels this won’t happen,’ he said. ‘It’s not over yet.’ He said that the members of the board are disappointed. He said that there is a huge amount of good will towards the facility. ‘It’s just one of those incredible places,’ said Noel.
The Carraig Eden Foundation said that the owners had delayed placing the building on the open market for a period of six months from April 2016 to allow the opportunity to raise funds for an agreed price of €1.7 million. Despite their best efforts, the foundation did not raise enough.
Any donations over €250 will either be returned or used to provide financial support to the current residents of Carraig Eden to assist them in finding alternative accommodation. The foundation will also work with the residents to provide support and assistance to enable their transition.