In the north inner-city, tenants of 15 years evicted so council can buy their home
Dublin City Council is buying 40 homes in the Northbank apartments. It is not clear how many tenants have been evicted for the deal to proceed.
The homes have gone through round after round of repairs in recent years. Meanwhile, there are thousands of households on the social housing list in the area.
The lack of action by the developer “is a clear breach of the development agreement”, says a motion apparently headed to January’s monthly council meeting.
“We are going to be the new homeless,” says one. “I hope I’m wrong but I don’t see too many opportunities.”
Dublin City Council spent around €510,000 to build a two-bedroom home but it bought similar homes from private developers for €360,000.
But council housing manager Coilín O’Reilly says there isn’t a scheme through which it can do that.
Hanin Faqin says she’s showering in the gym, and too scared to turn on her heating in the Custom House Square complex.
These were among the issues Dublin city councillors dealt with at a meeting Tuesday, as they move to put the finishing touches on the new city development plan for 2022–28.
“I think it’s reaching a tipping point, that me and like-minded colleagues have been banging the drum for so long saying, we need to try something different, rather than keep doing the same.”
Local councillors welcomed the plans, including confirmation that all the homes will be social or affordable, but also flagged the high proportion of studios.
Meanwhile, between March and June, work didn’t start on any new sites in Dublin city with planned developments of more than 10 homes, according to a council report.
Adroit Company Ltd has applied for planning permission to demolish 53 homes to build 194 apartments in their place.
“We’re just classed as second-class citizens, that’s what we are,” said Annette Flanagan, who lives nearby. “And this would never go on anywhere else. It wouldn’t.”