Cllr fears that housing list is set to get a whole lot longer

CLLR Michael Cahill said he fears for young couples looking to buy homes in the Mid Kerry area, and he warned a “catastrophe” could be on the way for Killorglin and Cahersiveen’s housing-application lists.

“House prices are ranging from €350,000 to €650,000 in parts of Mid Kerry,” he said at last Friday’s Kenmare Municipal District (MD) meeting. “I’m not talking about Killarney town at all, I’m talking about rural areas. No couple has a chance of getting on the property ladder based on those types of estimates and costing.”

Figures released at Friday’s meeting showed there are 375 applicants on the Killorglin list, 102 in Cahersiveen. The council said that “more focussed” recent data for choice-based letting (CBL) provide a better picture of the housing demands across the MD, with 65 bids on three properties in Killorglin; 10 on two Cahersiveen properties; 47 on one one-bedroom property in Kilgarvan; 23 on one two-bedroom property in Kenmare; and five on a three-bedroom property in Sneem.

“I believe we’ll see more and more people coming on our waiting list, and it’s important that we source every kind of a property we can, be it building houses, buying houses, renovating houses, and providing affordable sites,” Cllr Cahill said. “…I believe [there] will be a catastrophe going forward because I don’t see any end to this crisis going forward.

“We have the vacant and derelict property grants available to members of the public, is it possible for Kerry County Council to acquire? There is property after property derelict in towns and villages across the county. Can we buy them and do them up ourselves?”

Kenmare MD manager Martin O’Donoghue said that suggestion was a non-runner at this time as the Council is already struggling to source contractors to refurbish the voids it has. He did say, however, that Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) could see properties acquired over the next few weeks, and these will go back to the market as they are.

“They will be for sale for people who meet the broad requirements of the county development plan and the rural housing guidelines, which mean they have to be permanent residential, and they have to be [for] someone with a fundamental connection to the area,” he said.

The Council’s response to Cllr Cahill said the local authority explores all opportunities to provide social housing through the county through various schemes. This includes acquiring suitable lands for development

“The responses to the advertisement seeking land and turnkey developments are currently being formally reviewed at this time and any commentary while this assessment is ongoing would be premature,” they added.