by Linda McGrory
INISHOWEN Council tenants on social welfare are
finding it impossible to buy out their homes as
local authority mortgages dry up.
Cllr John Ryan asked about the current situation
regarding local authority housing loans at this
week’s local area Council meeting.
Area manager for housing, Patsy Lafferty said that,
in the current economic climate, the criteria for
local authority loans had been “revised and
tightened” compared to previous years.
He said an applicant now had to be in employment for
two consecutive years before being eligible to apply
for a loan whereas in the past, a long term Council
tenant in receipt of social welfare, could apply to
buy out their house. This was no longer the case, he
said.
Separately, the meeting heard that the first
Inishowen tenant had been housed under Donegal
County Council’s new long term leasing scheme.
The local authority tenant is currently occupying a
three-bedroom dwelling in Gleneely, the local area
meeting in Carn was told.
Mr Lafferty said applications by Inishowen property
owners under the leasing initiative were being
assessed on an ongoing basis. He said a number of
applications had been approved for single units in
Buncrana, Carndonagh and Culdaff as well as six
properties in Muff, “subject to the house owners
meeting certain conditions”.
The long term leasing scheme allows Councils to take
a long term lease - from 10 to 20 years - on a
private property in order to house local authority
tenants.
The meeting was also told that a scheme of 12 local
authority units under construction in
Newtowncunningham was “roughly 70% complete”. Mr
Lafferty told councillors the building contract
provided for a September 2011 completion date.
Councillors were told that there was one remaining
dwelling to be sold under the Affordable Housing
Scheme at Gort na mBó in Buncrana. Three affordable
homes had so far been sold in Carndonagh with a
further two still available in Carn. Affordable
homes come with a price tag of around €130,000 for a
three-bed home.
Cllr Bernard McGuinness asked about the current
position regarding specific instance houses.
Specific instance (SI) allows for a person to sign a
plot of land over to the Council which would, in
turn, build a house for the plot owner to rent.
Cllr McGuinness said a message appeared to be going
out from the planning department that SI cases were
no longer being approved. While two SI cases had
recently been completed in the peninsula, the budget
did not provide for further projects, the meeting
heard. Cllr McGuinness accepted the Council did not
have the money for SI projects, but he said it was
important the public knew the local authority was
actively seeking funding for the scheme. |
