Tipperary families living in hotel due to shortage of rental housing

A number of families are currently living in emergency accommodation, including at a Clonmel hotel because they are homeless, Tipperary County Council has confirmed.

The council says the families from Clonmel and district are availing of emergency accommodation at the Clonmel Talbot Hotel (formerly the Park Hotel) for a number of reasons but particularly because they are unable to source private rented accommodation with the aid of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP).

A total of 41 homeless people are currently availing of emergency accommodation across county Tipperary.
Severe shortage

“There is a severe shortage of private rented accommodation across the county and there is a particular difficulty sourcing accommodation where landlords are willing to accept HAP. This should not be the case as landlords are obliged to accept it,” Sean Lonergan of Tipperary County Council’s Housing Section told The Nationalist.

He said Tipperary County Council uses B&B type emergency accommodation because there is no hostel type homeless accommodation in this county.

“We are unique in this as all other local authorities in the South East can avail of this type of service,” he explained.
Mr Lonergan stressed it was the council’s aim to ensure that clients are in emergency accommodation for as short a time as possible.

“We have a team of four dedicated social care workers to help them exit emergency accommodation either to the private market with HAP or an alternative housing support.”

Mr Lonergan pointed out that the council is in the process of introducing an Own Front Door service to replace B&B type accommodation for homeless clients.

“This entails the provision of council-owned properties for use as emergency accommodation.

“The properties will be managed by an  approved housing body experienced in the provision of homeless services.”

Mr Lonergan said people will be placed in Own Front Door properties for a maximum of six months and will be helped by the council’s social care staff to transition to alternative accommodation suitable to their needs.

“We already have four such units in operation on a trial basis in Cashel managed by the Peter McVerry Trust, which has proven very successful.

“It is hoped to replicate this service across the county, which will lessen our dependence on B&B type accommodation,” Mr Lonergan added.

Clonmel Cllr Pat English voiced concern at Clonmel Borough District’s March meeting about the increase in the number of people in Clonmel presenting to the council as homeless.

Following the meeting, he told The Nationalist he knows of at least three families in emergency accommodation at the Clonmel Talbot Hotel (formerly the Clonmel Park Hotel).

These families were there because they had lived in private rental housing under the Housing Assistance Payment scheme and were served notices to quit from their landlords.

The problem for these families at the moment was that there was no alternative private rented accommodation available for them to move to.

The Workers & Unemployment Action Group councillor claimed some landlords were serving notices to quit on HAP tenants because they wanted to re-let them at a higher rent or to sell on the properties because market prices are good at the moment.

“It’s a complete mess at the moment and only getting worse rather than better,” he said.

At the Clonmel Borough District meeting, Sean Lonergan stressed the council was doing its best to address homelessness.

He explained how in the south of the county, the council employs a Homeless Prevention Officer and a HAP Place Finder Officer, who help people becoming homeless or in danger of becoming homeless to find rental accommodation.

He outlined the council’s plans to extend the Our Front Door service in Cashel and described the Housing First service which provided 12 accommodation units in the county for the council’s most vulnerable homeless clients.

Cllr English acknowledged that the council’s Housing Section staff were doing “tremendous” work but the problem lay with the lack of housing supply on the ground because of previous Governments not investing in social housing for many years.

Fine Gael’s Cllr John Fitzgerald suggested Cllr English and his action group come up with ideas to source housing for people in need.

“I am not being smart about this. You are part of an action group. The action really now has to be about housing.”

He said there were a lot of vacant properties out there not being used and cited the example of accommodation being vacant because their owners were in long term care.

Cllr Fitzgerald asked what ideas had Cllr English’s group come up with and answered with the accusation that there had been no action on housing from the Workers & Unemployment Action Group in 35 years.

Cllr English shot back: “Our action has been putting pressure on your party, which has let the housing situation get out of hand.”

Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Michael Murphy highlighted the need for single and two bedroom housing units for single people and single parents with a child and suggested certain vacant commercial buildings in the town could be redeveloped into one and two-bedroom housing units.

Meanwhile, Mr Lonergan argued that it was lack of investment in housing from the private sector due to the economic downturn rather than the council that was the cause of the housing supply shortage.

He maintained that every housing target and guideline the Department of Housing set for Tipperary County Council has been exceeded by the local authority. The council had nearly doubled the target of social houses it had been set to build over the next five years.

But Cllr English disagreed. “The problem is that what we (the council) are supplying isn’t enough. We are playing catch up for 20 years of not building social housing.”