Boarded up council properties in midst of homeless crises.

Hibernosaur

Hi folks,

There are 3 boarded up properties in my estate in Dublin 9.

One was vacated about a year and a half ago when the women who lived there had her kids taken off her and was removed because she was dealing drugs.

The house itself is a 3 bed in good condition with a front and back garden.

Around the corner there are 2 more, a two bed apartment and a 4 bed house. Again in great nic.

The 4 bed house is being used by the local soccer team as a changing room once or twice a week.

Also; Before this I used to live in the Fingal county council area and again there were 3, 3 bed semi detached houses boarded up. (About 1 year ago)

In the midst of a housing crises, and homelessness increasing exponentially year on year, what the actual FK are the councils playing at?!

Cuddlesworth

In general, in the very best case a transfer between council tenants requires a paintjob.

In actuality its usually a lot more. You have to repair tenant damage, replace a fair portion of it and bring it up to whatever the current standard is at the time.

This takes both time and funds. Which the councils are usually bad at allocating quickly. So they stay laid up.

In a few rare occasions I had heard of, the houses were empty due to certain neighbours and their actions towards people who lived there.

Once it was explained to me that a "family" had unfortunately been given a large number of houses in a area. When another member wanted a property close by, existing non family tenants were coerced into leaving. The councils solution was to leave the properties empty rather than make other new tenants lives hell, or to give in and worsen the situation.

Hibernosaur

I am sure if people were given the choice of living in a house that needs a bit of work or living in a box in a urine soaked ally they would chose the former.

What you are essentially saying is that because some families are so out of control that the area is effectively a no go, people in need cannot be housed near them if houses are available. Which basically means the criminals and scumbags win. This is what is wrong with this society.

Give the homeless people the homes and feck the scummers who are making the area a no go out to a council area in the middle of nowhere.

If they have kids then they should be in state care if their parents are that out of control.

Cuddlesworth

Hibernosaur wrote: »

What you are essentially saying is that because some families are so out of control that the area is effectively a no go, people in need cannot be housed near them if houses are available. Which basically means the criminals and scumbags win. This is what is wrong with this society.

I said on rare occasions. And not being able to evict tenants doesn't lie with the councils. But don't let that get in the way of a good bashing.

The vast majority of time its simply a matter of funding. And the first thing that happens when council tenants move in is they start complaining about the place. I've been on the receiving end of their gratefulness at being given a property not up to their exacting standards. Its far cheaper to move people into houses after they have been finished not before, so houses are left empty till then.

hdowney

There is a serious lack of funding in various councils to do up the vacant properties so unfortunately they lie idle for years at a time, which in turn means they will need MORE money put into them to bring them up to scratch for tenants.

Mrs OBumble

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

In general, in the very best case a transfer between council tenants requires a paintjob.

And an electrical safety check.

Most cases aren't best cases though. If someone has been dealing drugs from a property there may be some particular cleaning needed. (Some types of drug manufacturing even require demolition with specialised removal of the debris - not sure how common p-labs are here, but it cetainly happens overseas.)

Some councils routinely board-up when someone moves out, because they know what will happen if they don't.

Council / voluntary housing officers are some of the hardest-working people I know. They don't want to see houses empty. But it all comes down to the number of hours in the day, and to the budget for doing the capital works to bet the places fit to let again.

mad m

hdowney wrote: »

There is a serious lack of funding in various councils to do up the vacant properties so unfortunately they lie idle for years at a time, which in turn means they will need MORE money put into them to bring them up to scratch for tenants.

Not true, especially in DCC. Huge amounts of money is being pumped into getting these voids done in under 6 weeks with a contractor . No more direct labour, contractors all the way since last year. DCC get money back from DOE after energy up grades are done also.

MouseTail

Not just DCCC, all Councils got a cash injection recently to turn voids around.