Housing agencies accused of paying ‘astronomical money’

The amount paid for four homes being purchased by housing bodies through loans raised by Galway City Council was excessive, according to some councillors.

A one-bed unit on Doughiska Road had a purchase price of €143,000 and needed a €6,000 refurbishment. The same size apartment on the Western Distributor Road was priced at €144,000 and got an €8,000 overhaul.

For a three-bed house in Doughiska the sellers were to receive €255,000 with a further €3,500 needed for a makeover, while on the Ballymoneen Road in Knocknacarra €335,000 was paid for a four-bed house.

The properties were purchased by Clúid Housing Association, Cope Galway and the Galway Simon Community and will be used to house people who need sheltered accommodation or have particular housing needs. One of them will be used to accommodate homeless families.

The people who to be housed in the four properties are nominated from Galway City Council’s waiting list for social housing, the Director of Services for Housing, Human Resources and ICT, Patricia Philbin has confirmed.

Cllr Mark Lohan (SF) was first to raise the issue at a City Council meeting of the prices paid for the properties, claiming they were well above market rates.

The “logic of buying houses on the open market and paying astronomical money for them” was taken up by Cllr Frank Fahy (FG), who said a similarly-sized home in the same estate in Knocknacarra had sold for €240,000 at the end of 2016.

Fianna Fáil’s Ollie Crowe asked about the criteria used by the housing bodies to pick tenants.

“We have people living in Council houses with criminal records  causing huge problems for other residents. Who monitors it? It’s very, very unfair on neighbouring residents.”

It was the legal costs and the amounts spent on refurbishment that perturbed Cllr Padraig Conneely (FG) who asked if it was “animals or human” living in the properties.

Cllr Cathal O’Conchúir (SF) said he had been dealing with an estate in Knocknacarra where one family out of 80 had engaged in extreme criminal behaviour and made life a misery for all others. He queried whether those with criminal records would go to the bottom of the waiting list as councillors had previously been assured.

Ms Philbin said the Council was currently compiling a strategy to deal with antisocial behaviour.