NINE TENANTS OF FAIRFIELD REMAIN
NINE of the families or individuals living at Fairfield Park have yet to be re-homed in advance of their August 31 eviction date.
Residents received notice to leave the estate back in August 2016 and were given a year to leave.
Landlord Bill Fenelon of Haven Homes wrote to the residents last summer. He said that he made the decision to close the park ‘with great sadness’ and due to changes in legislation governing landlords’ obligations to tenants.
Wicklow County Council has been assisting them as they move out of the mobile home park. Fairfield Park has provided private rented accommodation to households since 1973. Last year, 48 households were issued with notice to quit.
Wicklow County Council said that this presented them with a significant challenge, with over 3,200 on the housing list, and over 500 homeless presentations a year. The council engaged with the residents and engaged a housing support worker from the Simon Community to help.
A site clinic was set up to facilitate the residents, some of whom are elderly or inform and have lived at Fairfield Park since the ‘70s.
They aimed to prevent anyone currently living in the park becoming housing by assessing each household to determine their needs, ensure anyone eligible was registered for social housing support and received rent supplement where appropriate. They also engaged with landlords and agents and provided post-tenancy support. All residents were interviewed, their initial assessment completed and a priority list was devised which informed the proposed exit pathway for each household.
The percentage of households who have moved is now at 81.25 per cent – 39 households out of the original 48, with nine households, primarily individuals, remaining.
Cllr Jennifer Whitmore said that the council is actively working with those remaining.
‘When I first heard, nearly one year ago, that Fairfield Park was to close down, I was very concerned for the welfare of the tenants. However, the generous notice period given to the residents by the landowner and the great work done by the housing section of Wicklow County Council has meant that a difficult situation has been averted,’ she said.