COUNCILLORS have called for Limerick City and County Council to ensure that should a property bought under the rightsizing scheme become available that it is used again under the rightsizing scheme and not put back into social housing stock.
The housing initiative offers a “lifetime tenancy” in exchange for rightsizing, helping to free up larger homes for the wider housing market. The scheme caters to people are over 55 wanting to transfer to a smaller home, releasing larger properties that are in high demand.
Fianna Fáil councillors Catherine Slattery and Joe Pond raised concerns about the scheme at September’s meeting of the Metropolitan District.
Cllr Slattery told the Council executive that they had no choice but to raise questions in the public forum as they had been unable to get an answer from the local authority.
“Our question is, is Limerick Council, when someone dies or leaves a property that was originally marked for rightsizing, putting it back into social housing stock?
According to Cllr Joe Pond, in-demand rightsizing properties, when they become vacant, are being put back into social housing stock. He took the strong view that this should not be happening.
“If we allow this to happen, it will mean that all of these units will eventually become social housing, and a person will have to be on the social housing list before they can be eligible to be accommodated in one of these unit. This is preventing a person or a couple who wish to sell their house and downsize and move to a smaller unit,” he told the Council executive.
“It also means that these units, in blocks together, will eventually become fully social housing units, which I believe is not a proper tenure mix.”
The Fianna Fáil said that if rightsizing units were kept for only this purpose, it would free up more houses for families on the housing list and also allow people to downside properly.
“Recently, a downsizing property became available in Annacotty. The previous occupants passed away. As we understand, it is now going back into social housing stock. I’m asking that we change this policy,” Cllr Pond claimed.
In response, the Council acknowledged that there will be compassionate and exceptional cases where flexibility in allocation to rightsizers is essential in order to respond to particular housing needs. However, the local authority said there are practical difficulties in reallocating rightsizing units exclusively for further private rightsizers.
“Vacancies often arise at short notice and Limerick City and County Council must be in a position to allocate promptly,” said Sarah Newell, senior executive office at the Housing Strategy unit.
“The contract between the Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) and the local authority states that the AHB shall notify the Council as soon as they become aware of a vacancy and that a nomination is required for the vacant unit within one month,” she said.
“Should allocation be delayed by the need to undertake a rightsizing campaign, which can take up to six months to launch, assess applicants, and allow applicants to dispose of their existing homes on the private market, AHBs that own and manage rightsizing properties are placed at risk of losing availability payments from the State.”