Athy social housing gets axed, hundreds more homes across Kildare under review

THE PLAN for 73 social housing units and a community building in Ardew, Athy has been halted by the Department of Housing due to “overall costs for the project being considered too high”.

The department’s decision directly affects the badly needed housing, which was ready to begin construction in a few weeks, with planning approved and contractors ready to go.

The project was contained in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Bundle 3. The bundles are a specific grouping of social housing projects within a larger PPP programme, where private contractors take on the design, build, finance, operation, and tenancy management of a set number of social housing units with support from the government.

Cathaoirleach of Athy Municipal District, cllr Aoife Breslin, said: “I find it absolutely unbelievable. I find it hard to understand and comprehend. The cost of construction is going up on a daily basis. So it’s not keeping costs down. It’s just going to get worse.”

The Athy development will not be the only one affected, as the department also noted that developments under Bundles 4 to 6 will now be placed under review with the National Development Finance Agency.

The developments affected include 60 social homes at Oldtown Mill, Celbridge, 99 social homes and 32 affordable homes at Coolaghknock Glebe, Kildare Town, 104 social homes at Rathasker, Naas, and 98 social homes and 40 affordable homes at Rickardstown, Newbridge.

The halting of the project removes Athy’s potential stock of four-bedroom houses, for which there’s a “critical need”.

Cllr Breslin described housing as a “national crisis,” and worries for people that have been on the housing list for over a decade, with over 800 people currently on the housing list in Athy Municipal District area.

“My clinic is full of people, homeless people, people looking for houses, people 13 years on the housing list.

“There’s a critical need for four-bedroom houses, both on medical and overcrowding needs. We don’t have any in stock and this was going to be a lifeline for so many families.”

“But the issue now further down the road is that the department have now decided to review bundle four, five, six, and seven, and Kildare County Council was included in all those bundles.

“We have a couple of hundred houses that we have no idea if we’re going to be built or not, and on top of the tenant in situ, on top of the rent.

“I think the Minister has lost a run of himself because in his mind there is no housing crisis.”

In response, the department of housing said that it remains “fully committed” to delivering Bundle 3 projects, and is working with programme leaders, the NDFA and the four Local Authorities with sites in Bundle 3 to “urgently” advance the projects through an alternative strategy.

It also included that it is now initiating a review of future social housing PPP bundles to “consider all potential options and determine the optimal procurement and delivery strategy”.