LOCALS IN A Co Carlow town say they’re devastated after the developer behind a new social housing estate switched almost half the new homes to the private market, weeks before they were expected to become available.

Three- and four-bedroom houses at Foran’s Way in Tullow have been listed for sale online, leaving only two-bed homes for Carlow County Council.

The change has come about due to rising costs involved in the €14 million project, according to the local authority.

Residents who have been waiting for years on the council housing list expressed fury at the “absolute farce” around the handling of the handover of the units.

Many only learned that 22 out of 48 homes were making their way to the private market after seeing adverts for their sale online.

“It feels for a lot of us like we keep getting overlooked. It’s so disheartening,” one woman told The Journal.

The remaining social homes will be managed by Cooperative Housing Ireland, an approved housing body, after completion by Wexford developer BHA Construction.

Carlow County Council’s chief executive issued an apology this week to councillors over locals finding out about the sale before any official confirmation had been made about homes being switched over to the private market.

In the message, council boss Coilín O’Reilly explained that council management had planned to formally notify elected representatives, but had been “caught out by the speed that properties went up for sale”.

Of the 48 houses, 19 have two beds, 27 have three beds and the remaining two have four beds.

When contacted, BHA Construction declined to comment.

Cooperative Housing Ireland told The Journal that it would “work constructively” with partners on the project to “deliver as many social-rental affordable homes as possible”, but declined to comment further.

The controversy raises questions over a model of social housing delivery that sees councils contract projects out to private builders rather than directly building. Critics of the system say it can often leave local authorities with a weakened hand when dealing with partners on a new development.

A recent housing conference in Croke Park heard that the costs involved in the building of new homes have increased by up to €20,000 due to the US war with Iran.

In Carlow, there are over 600 applicants on the housing list with approximately 130 applicants based in the Tullow area.

Housing applicants ‘livid’

One woman, who lives with her young daughter in privately rented accommodation after spending five-and-a-half years on the council’s waiting list, told The Journal that she and others were “livid” over what has happened at Foran’s Way.

She said she needs to get out of the mould-ridden home she currently lives in, partly because of her child’s serious asthma condition.

She further said that the asking price for several of the homes now being sold privately, €350,000 for the three-bedrooms, and more than €400,000 for four-beds was likely to be beyond the budget of many Tullow locals.

Another woman who has been on the medical transfer list for more than two years described how she felt distraught when she learned some of the homes would not become social housing.

This local resident lives in a three-bedroom council house with her five children, two of whom have additional medical needs. Three of her daughters share one bedroom as part of their current living arrangement.

She had been “desperate” for one of the two four-bed homes to house her family and said she had initially heard that some of the homes may be sold on the private market from builders involved in the construction.

“It was three or four weeks ago when I first heard. Someone on the site told me ‘don’t get your hopes up’ as the four-beds would be put on the private market,” she said.

I brought it to the council’s attention the next day and was basically called a liar. Last Saturday night, then, my sister told me to go look on Daft, and I just cried.

Council statement 

Local councillor Will Paton shared the confirmation from O’Reilly, chief executive of Carlow County Council, on his social media this week.

In the message, O’Reilly said that the council had learned that to make the “overall project viable”, the developer needed to put 22 of the 48 homes on the private market.

“Obviously, we would like to provide all 48 for social use but with construction cost increases this became less viable and it was important to ensure some form of social delivery,” O’Reilly continued.

The council chief defended the local authority’s record on social housing in the area, as he also argued that the supply of homes for private sale was nonetheless a positive which would provide a mix of house types in the new housing estate.

Political reaction

Paton told The Journal that the loss of the larger houses in the development had “dashed” the hopes of families who have children with additional needs, who he said had long made clear their need for space to store medical equipment.

Social Democrats senator Patricia Stephenson, who is based in Carlow-Kilkenny, said the U-turn on nearly half the new homes was a sign of the dangers posed by the social housing model used in Ireland.

“This is the outcome of the model that we have where we’re relying on the private sector,” Stephenson said.

“Rather than having public and social housing, including for people earning over the earnings threshold but who still can’t find a home, our councils aren’t empowered to build any directly.”