*Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) highlighted the matter.
NUMBERS facing homelessness in the county is on the rise every week, the Mayor of the Ennis Municipal District has said.
In a motion put before Clare County Council, Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) implored the local authority to write to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to tackle a recent surge in no-fault evictions.
He called on Minister James Browne (FF) to “immediately strengthen and expand the Tenant-in-Situ Scheme, enabling Clare County Council to purchase homes outside the current restrictive parameters in warranted cases where a household is at imminent risk of homelessness”.
Expanding on the motion, Guilfoyle noted that “The number of people contacting us facing homelessness conditions is on the increase. They contact us, we contact the housing department which does everything in their power to assist them. Unfortunately, families sometimes have to move out because the council cannot purchase their house due to small parameters that cannot be exceeded. I am asking for support during these toughest of times, where people face evictions and the loss of their homes”.
“There should be an allowance for the housing department and the executive to use their best interests to help people. If it is in the public interest to push a parameter slightly to keep a family in their home, we should allow our executive to conduct business in that manner”, he added.
Seconding the proposal, Cllr James Ryan (SF) commented, “I don’t think there is a councillor here who hasn’t had experience with this at this stage. We have come across a situation where people are just outside the parameter and they become technically homeless. It’s absolutely frightening to hear someone on the phone with a number of kids saying that they have nowhere to go”.
Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) told the meeting she has recently discussed the matter with the Housing Minister. She stated that a conflict of responsibility was one of the key factors causing the problem, saying “I had a case where a 73 year old woman was going to be made homeless. The top table are being told by the Minister that it’s your problem. If it’s your problem, what are we going to do about it,” the Quin native asked.
Urgency and resources need to follow announcements, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) insisted. “We have discussed various housing initiatives to address the crisis, from scheme announcements to rural housing guidelines. If these are combined with urgency and resources, they will have a major impact. Funding must come to allow the local authority to act and that’s the part that’s missing. It’s win-win for everybody, people stay in their area, the landlord gets a reasonable market value, and the community remains intact”.
Responding to the motion and its widespread support, Senior Executive Housing Officer, Pádraig MacCormaic highlighted the complexity of the issue. “Regarding the acquisition programme, there are things we can and cannot do. Regarding funding, we are limited to market value valuations. If a property is valued at €300,000 but sells for €360,000 or €370,000, we do not have the funding to bridge that gap. I have mentioned the income limit before because it is very important”.
“I welcome the motion because our hands are very much tied, even though our homeless teams have been successful in finding alternative accommodation for people”, Mac Cormaic added.
Concluding, Cllr Guilfoyle highlighted the unwelcome position families across Clare are being placed in, outlining that “Families have even said they would go to the credit union to get the money for changes themselves if they could just stay. I ask the Minister to open the door and let people live in their homes, allowing us to come to a balanced agreement on how to improve the home after it is purchase”.
