Cork City council to repair 1,200 homes in €11m plan
The loan, if sanctioned, will also see Cork City Council take charge of 34 social- housing estates, which are home to 4,600 tenants.
And it will facilitate the first full housing stock survey to assess the condition of the council’s estimated 9,000 properties city-wide. This will allow housing officials to rank and prioritise the required repairs, which will, in turn, help streamline the planning of future maintenance work.
Details of the package were outlined to city councillors at a housing committee in City Hall, on Monday.
The Irish Examiner reported an outline of the proposed loan facility when it was discussed briefly during the council’s 2018 budget meeting last November.
Councillors were told, at the time, that the council’s finance directorate was obtaining an €11m loan from the Housing Finance Agency for housing maintenance.
They signed off on the 2018 budget when it was confirmed that the loan application would allow the council to transfer €500,000 from its housing budget for footpath and road repairs.
In a report to the housing committee on Monday, the council’s director of services in housing, Valerie O’Sullivan, said the proposed works include:
- Roofline repairs, including the repair and replacement of defective fascia, soffit, gutters, downpipes, eaves, and lower felt on 556 units;
- Repairs or replacement of substandard windows and doors on 473 units;
- The assessment, design, and installation of central heating in 150 units;
- Repairs of roof and chimney defects in 50 units;
- The taking-in-charge of 34 social-housing estates, comprised of 1,724 units;
- A condition survey of the council’s entire housing stock to inform and plan future maintenance work;
- And a range of completion and remedial works at Fairfield Meadows.
Ms O’Sullivan said her directorate had “considered, in some detail”, the best-recommended use of the loan to address required legacy repairs, which she said had little or no chance of funding, under current streams.
She said the proposals would help inform and plan future housing maintenance and repairs in a sustainable manner, and would achieve the “best value for money, and the broadest possible benefit for the maximum number of both units and tenants”.
“The recommended works are also based on consideration of factors such as urgency, priority, weatherproofing, need, and possibility, or otherwise, of other funding streams,” said Ms O’Sullivan.
She said that while the council had returned 800 repaired housing units to use in recent years, there had been limited funding available to tackle routine maintenance projects, and that the city had been effectively firefighting.
Securing the loan would help the council address legacy repair projects, Ms O’Sullivan said.
The issue is due to be discussed at next Monday’s full council meeting.
