“It started out as a football project and it's turned into a game changer for the area and surrounding areas,” says John Hayden, the chairman of Belvedere Football Club.
Requests for a school warden were previously turned down because it was considered too dangerous, said a councillor. In recent times, two other schools have been told the same.
Instead of reducing rents to tempt more students, they’ve been going to the council and getting permission to use it for short-term lets and co-living.
But the homes would still be built by a private developer, instead of by Dublin City Council, as councillors had wanted when they rejected the last plan for the site.
“We chose to buy this site to try to create affordable housing for normal people,” wrote the developer in a letter to a local councillor in September 2017.
There are two-bed homes renting for €935 a month as part of a cost-rental scheme in Balbriggan, and for €1,100 in Cork city. But nothing yet in Dublin city.
First the newspapers moved out, then there was a plan for homes and a hotel. These days, it’s just sitting there empty – but it’s not on the vacant sites register.
“I believe this application is the definition of developer-led planning,” said Fine Gael Councillor Ray McAdam, at a meeting of the Central Area Committee on 22 July.
The government’s draft Affordable Housing Bill sets out rules for this type of affordable housing, and it leaves room for private investors and developers.
