Huge anxiety in Offaly as people fear a bleak winter

 
There is huge anxiety amongst the members of the public in Offaly, North Tipperary and the wider region as a possibly bleak winter looms.

The cost of living, housing and energy crises were all discussed at length by concerned councillors during Monday evening's meeting of Birr Municipal District.

The discussion began with John Cunningham of the Council's housing department giving a Housing Activity Report to the councillors.

Cllr John Carroll, Chairperson, thanked Mr Cunningham for a "detailed report", adding that "a lot of work is going on in the housing department."

Cllr Peter Ormond welcomed the fact that 18 social houses are being built in Kylebeg Banagher, four in Birr and 35 in Woodfield Birr. "It's been great to see contractors on site at all those locations over the last 12 months and to see that we're building quality houses. However, we need a lot more houses. How many do you plan to build over the next couple of years? You see, the demand for housing out there is absolutely enormous at the moment."

He added that the 35 houses in Woodfield (beside McAuley Drive) are a turnkey scheme and "the turnkey scheme is working very well. People are very happy with it." 20 of the houses in Woodfield are finished and the rest will be done before the end of 2022.

Cllr Ormond added that it was also good to see that 31 houses in Birr Municipal District have been retrofitted. This retrofitting is being done under a programme called the Midlands Retrofit Programme.

"Retrofitting is great, if you can afford it," he remarked, "but it is very expensive and a lot of people can't afford it. All we are getting, all we are hearing about from the government department is the word retrofitting. But it's not enough. We need alternatives. A lot of people out there are really worried about fuel poverty, especially if there's a particularly harsh winter. The elderly especially are worried about fuel poverty. The system needs to do more for them."

The councillor pointed out that the Disabled Persons Grant (DPG) is extremely popular with the public, however it's not big enough to meet the rising costs currently afflicting the scheme.

"Overall," he continued, "it seems that the Council is the only group of people building houses at the moment. The private market is badly underperforming." He said the neverending housing crisis is causing huge anxiety for many. "The crisis feels like a runaway train which is getting further and further away from us."

Cllr John Leahy asked if bodies like the Mid Offaly Housing Association are permitted to tap into grant funding for retrofitting. "The Mid Offaly Housing Association has a number of housing units for the elderly and it would be a good idea to retrofit them."

Cllr Leahy said heat pumps are the only game in town at the moment. "However they are electrically driven. Will that be a problem in terms of bills?"

Cllr Leahy suggested the Council rethink its Tenant Purchase Scheme. "People want to buy their own houses after renting for a while from the Council but maybe it would be more financially prudent for the Council to not operate this scheme anymore and just stick to renting.

"There's a massive supply and demand problem with HAP (Housing Assistance Payment). As an auctioneer every second call I get is from a landlord saying he is not getting the rent that he wants from HAP. There is in fact an option to increase the HAP payment to the landlord by 35% if the tenant is struggling to pay his rent. That's worth looking into.

"We are getting through a lot of Disabled Persons Grants at the moment but the building and material costs are going up and up, adding 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 to people's bills."

He congratulated the housing department on carrying out a high number of inspections of its properties.

Cllr John Clendennen asked if the governmental department is open at all to the idea of solar panels, rather than just heat pumps. "Is there a possibility that heat pumps might lose a lot of their bill saving power because of rising electricity costs? In that case would solar panels be a solution?"

Cllr Clare Claffey said she is hearing a lot of complaints from people about the HAP scheme. "The amount of representations from the public that we are getting about HAP has hugely increased. This means that I am often in contact with the housing department in the council. I understand they are very busy but sometimes they are not responding to my calls and queries. Sometimes I am being told that due to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) they can't help me. It is very frustrating. I know the staff are working very hard but I wish they would be more helpful with these HAP related problems.'

Cllr Claffey pointed out that the rental crisis is "soaring. Many people are paying massive rents and they can't qualify for HAP because of the level of their income. I think homelessness is going to skyrocket. What are the figures for homelessness in Offaly?

"We are not building anywhere near enough housing. The future is really, really worrying. There are people in dire straits.

"I think the councillors should also have more say as to who is allocated the new builds."

Cllr John Carroll said it was good to hear that the Master Plan is ongoing for the Rectory Lands in Birr. "I look forward to seeing the Master Plan going out for public consultation in the not too distant future."

He reminded everyone that if it wasn't for the HAP scheme the Council's social housing list would be enormous. There are currently 725 HAP tenancies in Offaly. Mr Cunningham said 17 properties were signed up to HAP in Birr MD in 2022 to date.

"A lot of landlords, as we know," said Cllr Carroll, "are getting out of HAP and it is creating a lot of stress and anxiety for people."

He added that there has been a "massive takeup" of the DPG scheme.

He praised the housing section for the high volume of work they are getting through. He pointed out that the houses in Woodfield have been a godsend for a number of families. "The construction work has been of a very high standard."

Mr Cunningham told the councillors that the Housing for All programme is driving everything which the Council is doing in the world of housing. "The Housing for All target for Offaly is 464 new houses by the end of 2026. It should be easy enough to hit and even surpass that target. However, we have run out of land in the county for new housing.

"Regarding heat pumps and retrofitting, as far as the Department is concerned heat pumps are the only show in town. It's hoped to install half a million heat pumps throughout Ireland by the end of 2030.

"It's important to also warn people. I've heard horror stories about people taking out their boilers and installing heat pumps but without properly insulating their homes. Heat pumps only work properly when there's proper insulation of your home. People's bills will go down when there are heat pumps with proper insulation. Heat pumps are incredibly efficient and the least polluting. At the moment they are still cost effective, despite the rise in electricity costs.

"Solar panels are not being considered by the department instead of heat pumps."

He agreed that the grants for DPGs need to be increased.